CHP calls for legal action over ‘suicide bombers list’

ISTANBUL

A bomb disposal officer inspects a suspected suitcase that proved to be empty at the scene of an explosion in Ankara, Turkey, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2015. AP Photo

Turkey’s main opposition party has called on chief public prosecutors to take legal action over “a list of suicide bombing suspects” referred to by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, daily Hürriyet has reported.

Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy and former chief public prosecutor İlhan Cihaner on Oct. 13 called on chief public prosecutors to take legal action against suicide bombing suspects purportedly on the list which Davutoğlu said Turkey had, but could not take action unless there was a realization of the suicide act, a statement that came less than a week after the deadly Ankara blasts.

“Prime Minister Davutoğlu said they had the list of suicide bombers, but he also said they could not arrest these [suicide bombing suspects] unless [there was a] realization of the suicide act,” Cihaner said.

All authorized chief public prosecutors on duty should immediately take the list and take necessary legal action over it, Cihaner added.

Oktay Vural, the deputy leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) parliamentary group, also questioned why the state failed to prevent the attacks despite having a list of potential suicide bombers.

“Are you incapable of even following these people?” Vural asked during a press conference. 

He said it was a controversy that the state could arrest journalists upon reasonable doubt but remained inactive against bombers.

The statements came a day after Davutoğlu said during a live broadcast that Turkey had a list of suspects who may carry out suicide bombings but cannot take legal action unless the suspects committed a suicide attack.

“They [the suspects] are kept on record. However, legal action cannot be taken until the realization of the criminal act [suicide bombing],” Davutoğlu told private broadcaster NTV during an interview at the Justice and Development Party (AKP) headquarters in the Turkish capital on Oct. 12, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency.

Davutoğlu said if any legal action was taken against suicide bombing suspects before the criminal act, there may be another act committed in protest by other suspects.

“It [the attack in Ankara] was definitely a suicide bombing. DNA tests are being conducted. It was determined how the suicide bombers got there. We’re close to specifying a name, which points to one group,” Davutoğlu previously said on Oct. 12, two days after the deadly Ankara bombings that killed more than 90 people and wounded hundreds of others at the heart of the Turkish capital ahead of a peace demonstration early Oct. 10.