Bahrain condemns terrorist attack in Turkey
Manama : The Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the terrorist bombing in Diyarbakir, Turkey.
It stressed the Kingdom’s solidarity with Turkey in its efforts to combat extremism and to eliminate all terrorist organisations. It also extended support for all measures and actions taken in order to maintain security.
The ministry condoled the relatives and families of the victims and wished for the speedy recovery of the injured. It also renewed the firm position of Bahrain, which rejects violence and terrorism in all its forms.
Turkey extends crackdown
Diyarbakir/Istanbul : Turkish police yesterday detained almost a dozen MPs from the country’s main pro-Kurdish party, including its two co-leaders, as nine people were killed in a deadly car bombing blamed on Kurdish militants.
Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag appeared before judges in the city of Diyarbakir who were deciding whether to remand them in custody, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.
As the hearings got underway, a blast blamed on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) struck outside a police station nearby in the Baglar district of Diyarbakir, Turkey’s main majority-Kurdish city.
Nine people were killed, including two police, and over 100 wounded, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim announced, saying the PKK had again showed its “ugly face”.
With tensions again escalating in Turkey nearly four months after July’s failed military coup, authorities slapped restrictions on social media including messaging services like WhatsApp.
Yildirim confirmed the move, saying such measures were imposed from “time to time” as a precaution and would be lifted once the danger had passed.
The turbulence also battered the Turkish lira, which fell to a new historic low against the dollar of 3.15 as investors took fright at looming instability.
‘Cannot stay silent’
The arrest of the HDP leaders, along with nine other MPs, is a major escalation of a crackdown on leading pro-Kurdish politicians as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan seeks to destroy the PKK.
The HDP said in a statement that the goal of the measures was to shut down the party, but it vowed not to surrender to these “dictatorial policies.”
“This is a dark day not only for our party but for all of Turkey and the region as it means the end of democracy in Turkey,” it said.
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said on Twitter she was “extremely worried” over the detentions and would call a meeting of EU ambassadors in Ankara.
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier summoned Turkey’s envoy to the Foreign Ministry in Berlin, a ministry source said, adding Germany “could not remain silent.”
‘Further despotism’
The raids come as Turkey remains under a state of emergency imposed in the wake of the failed coup, which critics say has gone beyond targeting the actual plotters.
Tensions have surged in the Kurdish southeast since a fragile ceasefire declared by the PKK collapsed in 2015, leading to a resumption of deadly attacks on the security forces.
The HDP, the third largest party in parliament, seeks to promote the cause of Turkey’s Kurdish minority.
“We call upon our friends... to stand in solidarity in our struggle to prevent Erdogan to steer the country into a civil war and further despotism,” the HDP said.
Authorities accuse the party of being a PKK front and failing to distance itself from terror, claims it has always vehemently denied. (AFP)
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