Just hours after Erdogan launched a raid targeting Turkey’s 3rd largest, pro-Kurdish, HDP political party, a car bomb attack in the largest city in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast region killed eight people Friday and injured over 100, hours after authorities detained at least 12 pro-Kurdish legislators for questioning in terror-related probes.
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said two police officers, a technician and five civilians died in the attack near a building used by the riot police, ABC reported. Yildirim also said one of the assailants was “caught dead” but did not provide details. The blast struck a police department located some 200 meters from Diyarbak?r’s prison, Hurriyet Daily News reported, adding that the authorities have banned media outlets from covering the explosion.
The Diyarbakir governor’s office said the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, had claimed the attack, which the state-run Anadolu Agency said was carried out with a minibus laden with a ton of explosives.
FLA? | ??te patlama sonras? olay yerinden ilk görüntüler! https://t.co/Gq5hRIrHrp pic.twitter.com/CgHcSFRsZJ
— Posta Gazetesi (@postacomtr) November 4, 2016
The blast caused a large crater near the police building and damaged several buildings and businesses nearby. Television footage showed people walking among glass and other debris near buildings with windows blown out. Authorities imposed a temporary news blackout after the explosion, barring reports that could lead to public “fear, panic or chaos” and images showing the explosion and its aftermath.
11 HDP’li bu gece gözalt?na al?nd?. ?imdi bunu gündemde me?rula?t?racak 1 habere ihtiyaç yok mu?
Diyarbak?r’da biraz evvel patlama oldu. pic.twitter.com/W4Q8tDB7JN— Onder Algedik (@onderalg) November 4, 2016
Turkey has been plagued by a series of deadly bomb attacks in the past 18 months, allegedly carried out by Kurdish militants or Islamic State group extremists, although some have speculated the explosions have been false flag events meant to turn the public against Erdogan’s enemies. The PKK has waged a three-decade-long insurgency against the Turkish state and is considered a terror organization by Turkey and its allies. A fragile cease-fire collapsed in 2015 and at least 700 state security personnel and thousands of Kurdish militants have been killed since then, according to Anadolu.
Diyarbak?r’?n Ba?lar ilçesinde çevik kuvvete, polis merkezine yak?n bir noktada patlama oldu, olay yerine ambulanslar sevk edildi. pic.twitter.com/ThoRkxqtoi
— ercan pekesen (@ercanpekesen1) November 4, 2016
As reported last night, just hours earlier, police detained 11 legislators from the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party, or HDP, including the party’s two co-chairs, Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag. Prosecutors demanded that the two be formally arrested pending trial.
The detentions occurred in the middle of the night, with co-chair Demirtas describing on Twitter how he was taken into custody: “Police officials are at the door to my house in Diyarbakir with a detention warrant.” State-run Anadolu Agency reported co-chair Yuksekdag was detained in her home in Ankara. Other senior officials taken away included Sirri Sureyya Onder and Idris Baluken. A twelfth legislator was also detained later during the day. One of the 12 was released on condition that he regularly report to authorities.
An Interior Ministry statement said a total of 15 detention warrants were issued by the chief public prosecutors in Diyarbakir and the provinces of Sirnak, Hakkari, Van and Bingol. Two of the legislators were determined to be abroad, and authorities are still searching for one.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, expressed concern over the pro-Kurdish politicians’ detentions on Twitter. She said the EU is in contact with authorities and she has called a meeting of EU ambassadors in Ankara. Main opposition Republican People’s Party Chair Kemal Kilicdaroglu denounced the detentions, “If you defend democracy, then you defend that those who came with elections should go with elections. Otherwise you’ll butcher democracy in Turkey.”
Yildirim responded: “If those who are elected but go hand in hand with terrorism, they of course need to be made to account.” Anadolu reported the lawmakers were detained for not appearing in court to testify in ongoing terrorism-related investigations. The government accuses the HDP of being the political arm of the PKK, an accusation the party rejects. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other senior government officials have repeatedly called for the prosecution of pro-Kurdish lawmakers on terrorism-related charges, which was made possible after legal immunities protecting legislators from prosecution were lifted in May.
Hundreds of charges were filed against HDP lawmakers following the lifting of immunity, including “disseminating terrorist propaganda” and “membership in an armed terrorist organization.”
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