On October 10th, 2015 two suicide bombers detonated devices in the midst of a group assembling for a demonstration calling for Labor, Peace and Democracy, organised by the HPD (Halkların Demokratik Partisi; known in English as the People’s Democratic Party ),the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions (DiSK), the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB), the Turkish Medical Association (TTB), and the Confederation of Public Workers Unions (KESK). This bombing led to the deaths of 106 people with over 400 people wounded and was the deadliest terrorist attack on Turkish soil.
Make no mistake about it this was an attack against the Turkish Left and Turkish Kurdish left and trade unions. We must stand in solidarity with those killed and wounded and with those struggling for peace, the rights of workers and democracy in Turkey.
With a Turkish general election scheduled for 1st of November due to no party having the won a majority to form a government in the June 2015 elections and coalition talks ended abruptly by the President of the Republic Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (AKP; Justice and Development Party), Turkey is currently ruled by an interim government led by the AKP party of Erdoğan with Ahmet Davutoğlu (AKP) remaining as prime minister until the elections are completed. The AKP’s loss of their majority for the first time in 13 years since they came to power in 2002 was a blow to Erdoğan’s aspirations to alter Turkey’s constitution to become a Presidential republic with himself as the main beneficiary gaining additional executive powers. As an understatement, he is not at all happy about the election result, following the loss of his majority, he increased attacks against the Turkish Kurds and against trade unions themselves. As such, the attack in Ankara should be seen in the context of the political situation in Turkey and the role that the Turkish government has been playing in the region.
The HDP
What brought an end to AKP’s majority and ruling the country on its own was the creation of HDP which passed the 10% threshold (earning 13.12% and gaining 80 seats) at the last general election this past June. The creation of HDP united several left wing Turkish groups, The Peace and Democracy Party (Kurds), see also Democratic Regions Party, Greens, trade unions, feminist groups, LGBT groups and ethnic initiatives of the Alevi, Armenians and Pomaklars.
The HDP was described by its founding chairpersons as a party that aims to eliminate the exploitation of labour and to fundamentally re-establish a democracy in which honourable and humanitarian individuals can live together as equal citizens. It was further described as a party aiming to bring about fundamental change to the existing Capitalist system though uniting a wide range of left-wing opposition movements. Gök claimed that any political movement with similar aims to the HDK that had not merged with the party was more than welcome to do so. However, Önen claimed that the HDP would be entering elections as an individual party and not as part of a wider electoral alliance, adding that the party is itself formed of a wide coalition of political forces in the first place (https://en.wikipedia.org/...).
Responses to the Bombing
The co-leaders of the HDP (Selahattin Demirtaş & Figen Yűksekdaǧ) released the following statement which can be read in full here:
“Regarding this chain of massacres, we have a number of expectations and clear demands from the international community and from political leaders. In making this call, we wish to underscore that the Ankara massacre and the aforementioned previous attacks are international in scope, and to make clear that we see the potential for such events to open the way to regional insecurity. AKP’s policy of relying on radical groups as proxies, which began with President Erdogan’s support of, and even channeling through the intelligence organization MIT, the activities of such groups as ISIS, Al-Nusra, and Ahrar Al-Sham—used particularly against Kurds in Rojava—is at the heart of today’s tragedy. […] At a time when the extreme nationalist and polarizing policies are implemented in Turkey, the safety of the general elections (November 2015) is a vexing question to be considered in a serious manner. Our electorates feel under constant threat in every social space and political activity they attend. In order to maintain stability in the region, it is crucial to prevent the devastating effects of the conflict from spreading over a wider geography. For this very reason, it is extremely important for the international community to take a firmer stance against President Erdogan and the AKP government that have already lost legitimacy in the eyes of the public in Turkey. Hereby, we encourage international community who stand in solidarity, to extend their condolences directly to the peoples of Turkey– not to the state representatives who are politically and administratively responsible from the massacre (http://kurdistantribune.com/...).”
[…] At a time when the extreme nationalist and polarizing policies are implemented in Turkey, the safety of the general elections (November 2015) is a vexing question to be considered in a serious manner. Our electorates feel under constant threat in every social space and political activity they attend. In order to maintain stability in the region, it is crucial to prevent the devastating effects of the conflict from spreading over a wider geography. For this very reason, it is extremely important for the international community to take a firmer stance against President Erdogan and the AKP government that have already lost legitimacy in the eyes of the public in Turkey. Hereby, we encourage international community who stand in solidarity, to extend their condolences directly to the peoples of Turkey– not to the state representatives who are politically and administratively responsible from the massacre (http://kurdistantribune.com/...).”
Within a short period of time after the bombings, the Turkish government claimed that the bombings were done by either PKK or Daesh. This seems to be a ritual, blame outsiders and try to pin the violence upon outsiders calling for “national unity” and then crackdown upon Kurds and the Left in Turkey. The government called for 3 days of national mourning …
“Thousands had gathered near the city's main train station to call for an end to the fighting between the Turkish state and PKK when the bomb exploded on Saturday morning. Mr Davutoglu said that identifying the attackers would lead to the discovery of which group was behind the attack but insisted that officials were looking at other groups including the Kurdish guerrilla group, Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), and the far-Left Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) as "potential suspects" (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/...).”
Claims that the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) was responsible are risible. When atrocities like these are committed one needs to stop and ask who would benefit from said atrocities. Since the demonstration was calling for peace between the PKK and the Turkish government and HDP has been accused of having far too close relations with the PKK, why would the PKK bomb this demonstration? This leads a large number of people to ask if it is Daesh, how could any group possibly bomb in the heart of the Turkish capital of Ankara where Turkish secret service (the national intelligence organisation, MIT) presence is strong as its headquarters is located there. The conclusion drawn by many is the obvious one; they couldn’t possibly carry this out without the knowledge of the Turkish secret police.
Moreover, this attack is a similar to two previous ones, that in Suruç in which 22 students (members of Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP) Youth Wing and the Socialist Youth Associations Federation (SGDF) were killed and 104 wounded; these students were planning to help go and rebuild the town of Kobani across the Syrian border and the attack on an HDP rally in Diyarbak (Amed) on June 5th 2015, two days before the June elections in which 2 people were killed and 100 wounded.
So again, the question arises how could this have happened without the Turkish secret police knowing about it? Even more so, why was this demonstration not given police protection and even worse, why did the Turkish police gas the demonstrators and their families with tear gas and prevent assistance by ambulances following the explosion? To add further insult the Turkish policed gassed protestors and mourners the day after the Ankara bombing. This is what is leading to accusations that the government itself is responsible at least indirectly for this atrocity.
According to the KCK:
"Claims that these massacres have been perpetrated by ISIS or some other organizations would mean ignoring the AKP's mindset, policies and practices, and distorting the truths. The fact that these massacres target the societal circles which the AKP point as a target, also reveal who actually are behind them. By using the names of some organizations as a mask, the AKP government wants to eliminate all the opposition circles one by one." Pointing to the undemocratic character of the AKP and its lack of a sense to respect and accept the results of elections, KCK emphasized that the AKP regards any method or practice as allowable in order not to leave the power. "This massacre must be seen as a conspiracy conducted by the AKP government to remain in power, and a kind similar to the massacre it perpetrated before the June 7 election after seeing that it was going to lose the election", KCK said (http://anfenglish.com/...).”
To add credence to the accusations against the government, the father of one of the suspected bombers has reported his son to the police repeatedly. Some have raised the possibility that the attack was carried out by the Turkish “deep state.” Accusations against the Turkish government for collaborating with Daesh abound and this is not only in allowing future Daesh fighters to pass through to Syria through its borders, allowing weaponry though, and literally standing by and watching while Kobani was under attack and preventing other Kurdish fighters to cross the border to help.
So the question remains, what does the AKP gain from this? It introduces fear and violence into the election process. The bombings can be used to stall the elections (the results will probably be the same leaving Erdoğan without a total majority again), they could argue that in such a violent situation that elections cannot be held in certain areas (e.g., where the Kurds are the majority). Erdoğan and the leaders of the AKP have been sowing lies, talking about the equivalence between Daesh and the PKK as “terrorist groups” trying to drum up fear of the PKK even as they were engaged in discussions around a cease-fire (following the attack in Ankara, the PKK called a cease-fire to ensure that the elections were not conducted in an atmosphere of violence and intimidation as long as they were not attacked first).
This would not be a deviation from previous practice of the AKP:
“This is not a new tactic. After the Suruç massacre, the state blamed various “terrorist organizations” of conflicting ideologies. Under this pretext, the state systematically hunted down left-wing and Kurdish groups. It will come as no surprise if the Turkish state blames ISIS for the bombing and then suppresses the progressive forces which stand against ISIS. All of this while the available evidence suggests that the Turkish state, a client of the United States, has been working hand in glove with ISIS (http://kurdishquestion.com/...).”
Orhan Pamuk, the Turkish Noble Laureate in Literature argued that the increased violence was a result of Erdoğan’s anger at not being able to rule the country alone following the June elections and his knowledge that he now needs other parties to form a government; for this he has brought the country to the verge of civil war yet again, this time with not only the Kurds, but with Daesh.
Umut Ozkirimli argues that the actions of the AKP have threatened the Turkish republic itself. Turkey is a country in which there are a multitude of peoples of various ethnic and religious groupings, of differing political beliefs and that Erdoğan’s attempt to concentrate power in his hands has not only alienated the Kurds, it has managed to anger other groups both political and ethnic against its actions and that may actually destroy that Turkish republic.
Following the bombings in Ankara, impromptu solidarity demonstrations were held in Istanbul in opposition to both the bombings and media censorship of journalists opposed to Erdoğan following the attacks (10th of October), Izmir and Ankara, the trade unions that were organisers of the Ankara march (DiSK, KESK, TTB, and TMMOB) called for a general strike on the 12-13th of October. Solidarity demonstrationswere held around the world in opposition to the Ankara bombing …
What did the Turkish government do, irrespective of the offer of a cease fire from the PKK? They bombed them … it suspended Kurdish mayors in Batman provinceleaving the AKP in control of the municipalities and detained and remanded into custody Kurds and left-wing members of the political opposition.
Will terrorising the population cause them to vote for him? It has worked in a number of countries in the past, but the killings in Ankara may actually work against him …
For those on the international left, our role is to stand in solidarity with the Turkish and Kurdish left, the trade union movement and those fighting for peace and democracy in Turkey! And if you want to sign a petition in solidarity, here is one from Day-Mer, the Turkish and Kurdish solidarity centre (UK).
Where should the international left be? Marching besides our Turkish and Kurdish comrades … try to get your union to send a solidarity message, like Unite the union did ... let our comrades know that they are not alone and we stand with them!
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