TURKISH President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his allies have been accused of orchestrating a series of deadly bomb attacks which targeted opposition parties and trade unions in 2015.
Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) vice-president Fatma Kurtulan has tabled a motion demanding a commission of enquiry into remarks made by former prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Friday.
He alleged senior figures from Mr Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the leader of coalition partners, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) were implicated in bombings in Suruc and Ankara.
Investigations into the bombings have consistently been rejected by the Turkish government.
But in a speech leaked on Friday Mr Davutoglu said: “If the terror-related cases are investigated, many people will not be able to go out to face the public … Do you know why? When Turkish history is written in the future, the period between June 7 and November 1 will be one of the most critical times.”
He was the country’s prime minister during this period. It followed a general election which saw 80 lawmakers elected from the HDP for the first time, ending the AKP’s majority.
As Mr Erdogan’s party struggled to form a coalition a series of bomb attacks hit opposition rallies, bringing an end to a fragile peace process between the government and Kurdish forces.
In Suruc, 33 young people were killed in a blast as they prepared a solidarity trip to help rebuild the Syrian city of Kobane.
And in the country’s most deadly terror attack, at least 109 people were killed at a peace rally in the capital Ankara.
An EU intelligence report last year suggested that “forces within the AKP commissioned the Da’esh operatives” to carry out the Ankara suicide bombing.
It said that with the snap election looming on November 1, “the last thing Erdogan really wants at this juncture is a Kurdish peace.”
Ankara’s links to Isis were exposed in the Star earlier this month with a report claiming former fighters were commanding Turkish-backed brigades in northern Syria and had been helped crossing the border by Turkish intelligence services.
MPs and relatives of the victims have demanded Mr Davutoglu explain his comments in which he also implicated the fascist MHP leader Devlet Bahceli.
Suruc Aileleri — an initiatve set up by relatives of the Suruc bombing victims — said: “For what reason did we die and become wounded?”
Source: Morning Star
