At least 30 dead in suspected ISIL suicide bombing in Turkey's border with Syria

[Bosonic]

Last edited Mon Jul 20, 2015, 01:11 PM - Edit history (2)

Source: Hurriyet Daily News

An explosion has killed at least 30 in a municipal culture center in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa’s Suruç district, as scores of people have been hospitalized.

"We are concerned that the number of death will increase. The perpetrators will soon be found and put on trial," Turkey's interior minister said in a statement on July 20.

Upon his arrival in Şanlıurfa, Interior Minister Sebahattin Öztürk confirmed that the death toll reached to 30. “We believe that it is a suicide bomb attack. No name has yet been designated concerning identity of the suicide bomber,” Öztürk also said.

There is speculation that the blast was caused by a 18-year-old female suicide bomber from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Read more: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/explosion-kills-scores-at-culture-center-near-syria-border.aspx?pageID=238&nID=85659&NewsCatID=341

[Tom Rinaldo]

1. Bad move by ISIL

The last thing they need is public pressure building inside Turkey to take them on directly.

[jamzrockz]

2. I wish

this would cause so much political problem for the Turkish govt that they would be forced to stop supporting ISIL/Syrian rebels.

[HoosierCowboy]

3. Maybe an Airliner

Crashing into Erogodan's Presidential palace might do it...

[mainer]

4. So heartbreaking, especially the photo taken just 5 minutes before the blast

Showing a group of young men and women sitting together at shaded tables, enjoying the day. I imagine that for ISIL, progressive Turkey is an abomination.

[cosmicone]

5. Erdogan's chickens are now coming home to roost

In his hatred of Bashar al Assad and the Kurds, Erdogan created this monster ... now he will pay the price. This will be Turkey's 9/11.

[Comrade Grumpy]

6. I doubt it. They're only Kurds. Turkey doesn't give a shit about them.

[cascadiance]

10. I think Erdogan is living on borrowed time. His government already screwed up earlier this week...

... when it went back on their earlier decision to back off construction in the park on Taksim Square that sparked so many protests against his government earlier...

https://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/28842178/top-court-approves-istanbul-development-that-sparked-protests/

Top court approves Istanbul development that sparked protests

Istanbul (AFP) - Turkey's top administrative court has removed its block on the controversial redevelopment of an Istanbul park that in 2013 sparked the most serious anti-government protests in years, a pressure group said Thursday.

Istanbul authorities had planned to rebuild an Ottoman-era barracks on the site of Gezi Park, one of the few green spaces in the city centre, at the fringes of Taksim Square.

But the construction was blocked by court order after the mass protests in May-June 2013 that snowballed into a wave of public anger against the rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, then premier, and left eight people dead.

But the Taksim Solidarity pressure group, which monitors the issue, said Turkey's top administrative court, the Council of State, had reversed its previous decision to block the construction.
...

I wonder if Calik Holding is still slated to do this work which is earlier had as its CEO Erdogan's son-in law.

http://foreignpolicy.com/2013/06/02/why-turks-are-fighting-to-take-back-istanbul/

...
For Istanbulites opposed to Erdogan, the prime minister is not only remaking their city without consulting them — he is empowering a new clique of businessmen beholden to him. The company that won the contract to rebuild Tarlabasi is owned by Calik Holding, whose CEO is Erdogan’s son-in-law. The symbiotic relationship between businessmen and politicians appears alive and well in Erdogan’s Turkey.
...

And Calik Holding is a very controversial company that built more of a monopoly of media in Turkey as I noted in a post here two years ago.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2945968

Also note in that post that how Ahmet Calik's actions have affected what has gone on in other countries lke Turkmenistan and influencing our own through companies like John Deere and Caterpillar.

I think its just a matter of time before Erdogan goes DOWN there... There used to be a lot of military coups in the past (I lived there through one of them) that replaced governments when they got out of control, but that was in the older days when the major party was then more friends with the Turkish military, and the non-religious factions there. A coup today likely would be a lot more violent than many times it has happened earlier.

[Bosonic]

7. PKK Blames Turkish Government for Suruc Attack

PKK Blames Turkish Government for Suruc Attack

SURUC – The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in a statement blamed the recent suicide attack in Suruc on the Turkish government.

The KCK, the executive council of the PKK, accused the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of creating the Islamic State threat in Syria and Turkey, and that it was ‘no longer possible to distinguish ISIS members from the Turkish intelligence agents’.

According to the PKK the AKP government supports ISIS in order to undermine the Syrian Kurds in Syria. “As a result of this policy, the border between Turkey and Syria became a haven for ISIS and gangs from all over the world used this border for logistical and mobilization purposes,” the PKK said.

“It is obvious that responsibility for this massacre is of the Turkish state that unrestrainedly commits massacres on the basis of animosity towards Kurds,” the PKK added. ''

http://www.basnews.com/en/news/2015/07/20/pkk-blames-turkish-government-for-suruc-attack/

[Comrade Grumpy]

8. I think the PKK's analysis is correct. n/t

[0rganism]

9. iirc ISIL was getting a free ride from the Turks

seems like a strategic blunder on ISIL's part - if Turkey starts cracking down on them, it could really throw a wrench in their operations.