Live
Audio Only
Thousands of mourners gathered in Ankara Sunday close to the site where a bombing at a pro-Kurdish democracy rally took place and killed at least 95 people on Saturday. According to social media reports, the protesters were attempting to place flowers at the site of the blast but were prevented by the police.
Newsletter
NOW:Turkish police prevents and attacks representatives of trade unions,political parties to mourn victims in Ankara pic.twitter.com/yQSwLpTohU
— İntifada Yayınları (@intifadayayin)
October 11, 201
"Murderer (President Tayyip) Erdogan", "murderer police", the crowd chanted in Sihhiye square, as riot police backed by water cannon vehicles blocked a main highway leading to the district where parliament and government buildings are located.
The rally Saturday was attended by hundreds of people and many lawmakers from the pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party, or HDP. Several Twitter accounts were tweeting Sunday threads of photos of those who lost their lives.
Kız kardeşlerim barış istiyordu, katlettiler pic.twitter.com/V4juD0LNOB
— dişi bir inek (@ozclovera)
October 11, 201
Tweet: “My sisters wanted peace. They killed them.”
So far the government says that autopsies have identified at least two suicide bombers. Despite the presence of many Kurds at the rally, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the Kurdish movement Kurdistan's Workers' Party, or PKK, could be behind the attacks.
RELATED: The Building Up of Fascism in Turkey
Turkey and the PKK have resumed fighting after the government launched an operation against the group back in July, ending a two-year ceasefire.
The biggest terror attack in Turkey's history comes few weeks before the general election in November 1. A government official said Sunday that postponing the elections because of the attack was not on the table or an option at all.
11:38 #Ankara Sıhhiye, #KESK Eşbaşkanı Lami Özgen, Pazartesi ve Salı günü greve gidileceğini açıkladı. @ahmetsaymadi pic.twitter.com/79c5DLmqNG
— 140journos (@140journos)
October 11, 2015
Tweet: “The co-chair of Turkey's KESK [Confederation of Public Workers' Unions] Lami Özgen announced a strike on Monday and Tuesday.”
The HDP, a major presence at Saturday's march, said Sunday police attacked its leaders and members as they tried to leave carnations earlier at the scene. Some were hurt in the melee, it said in a statement.
RELATED: A History of the Turkish-Kurdish Conflict
Some have suggested militant nationalists, who oppose any agreement with the Kurds or granting them minority rights in Turkey, might have been behind the attacks. Meanwhile, Turkish investigators were working on identifying the party responsible for the attacks.
We are not allowed even to mourn our dead in this country. We are only allowed to die. #Turkey
— Has Avrat (@hasavrat)
October 11, 201
Newspapers Sunday reflected mixed feelings between mourning and anger. "We are in mourning for peace," said the front-page headline in the secularist newspaper Cumhuriyet. "Scum Launch attack in Ankara," said Haberturk newspaper. "The goal is to divide the nation," said the pro-government Star.
RELATED: Turkey's Radicalizing Youth Dominates Escalating Conflict
