HDP co-leader slams Erdoğan, gov't for attack that claimed 95 lives

ANKARA

A crowded group shouts slogans in the southeastern city of Diyarbakır during a protest against explosions at a peace march in Ankara, on Oct 10. Reuters photo

Selahattin Demirtaş, the co-chair of the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) whose members are among the victims of the Oct. 10 Ankara attack, harshly criticized both government and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for poor inspection on recent similar attacks. 

“We have lost almost 150 of our people before and after the elections,” he said in Ankara, referring to the June 7 elections that failed to produce a one-party or coalition government but brought the HDP to the parliament as a party group as it surpassed the 10 percent election threshold. “There is nobody who has been designated as ‘responsible’ around. There is no effective investigation. There will be none regarding today's attack either. This is not an attack against unity of our state and nation. This is an attack by our nation against our people," he said. 

According to official figures, 95 people were killed at the attack at the start of a peace rally in the Turkish capital, as dozens remained in intensive care or surgery. 

"Until this day, No perpetrator has been revealed. They are able to arrest somebody just because he tweeted. They are able to arrest somebody just upon an order by the palace," Demirtaş said, in an apparent reference to President Erdoğan.

"From our perspective, this is not a dark and deep attack or an attack which is launched by external forces," he said. 

On June 5, two days before the general elections, four people died in a twin bomb attack on a HDP rally in Diyarbakır, one of the strongholds of the party in the southeast, where Demirtaş was scheduled to address the crowd. He then called calm after the attack. 

Turkey is once again heading for a re-election on Nov. 1. 

A sum of 33 people died in a July 20 attack on a socialist youth group by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the southeastern district of Suruç. 

Demirtaş, who likened the Ankara attack to Suruç and Diyarbakır raids, questioned why none of the governmental or bureaucratic authority has so far acknowledged failure and presented their resignation.

Convicted criminal: Blood will flow

"That is to say that they are very pleased. They are pleased of the current picture. This is not an attack against unity of our state and the nation. This is an attack by our state against our people. We do not accept any head of state's call and extension of condolence to the president. Who deserves being extended condolence is the people," Demirtaş said, noting how Sedat Peker, a well-known convicted criminal was able to hold a rally in a Black Sea province with all official measures having been provided.

Peker said during the Oct. 9 meeting in Rize that “blood will flow generously” if the security forces “fall tired” in fight against terrorism, also saying he will lead crowds by then. 

"There are AKP executives who have openly said that we have bombed ourselves. We are a party who defend living together, but there is no place to such treacherous ones like you in that life together," Demirtaş said, pledging that those who are responsible for such brutality will eventually pay account before the law.