Turkey detains a Syrian woman and accuses the Kurdish PKK of the attack in Istanbul

Turkey accused a woman of Syrian nationality on Monday of having planted the bomb attack that caused six deaths in Istanbul the day before and which, according to the police, acted on the order of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Police images released in the Turkish press showed a woman in a purple sweater being detained in an apartment.

“The person who planted the bomb was arrested,” Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu had declared shortly before. “According to our findings, the PKK terrorist organization is responsible” for the attack, he said.

Look: Attack in Istanbul: “A woman” would be behind the terrorist attack that left at least 6 dead

The woman, presented as Alham Albashir, would have entered Turkey clandestinely through Afrin, a town in northeastern Syria controlled by Turkish and Syrian soldiers.. The police claimed that they had received orders in the city of kobanealso in the northeast of Syria and under the control of Kurdish movements, allies of the PKK.

According to the minister, 46 suspects were arrested, some of them in the same place as the woman.

The explosive device consisted of “Strong Power TNT”said the police, who claim to have found in the apartment, located in Kucukcekmece, on the outskirts of istanbula large sum of money in euros and gold pieces in a bag, as well as a pistol and cartridges.

The attack, committed in mid-afternoon on Sunday in the commercial artery of istiklalwas not claimed. It caused six deaths and 81 injuries, about thirty of whom were still hospitalized on Monday.

Among the dead, all Turks, are a 9-year-old girl who died with her father, and a 15-year-old teenager who died with her mother.

“In a bank”

Since Sunday night, the president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his vice president Fuat Oktay designated “a woman” as responsible for the attack.

According to Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag, one “woman sat on a bench for 40 or 45 minutes, and a minute or two later, there was an explosion.”

The Turkish press released an image from a surveillance camera on the avenue istiklal in which you see a young woman in camouflage pants and a black veil who runs through the crowd, and who was designated as the one who planted the bomb.

The Interior Minister accused the Kurdish forces of the YPGthe Popular Protection Units, which control most of northeast Syria, to be responsible for the attack.

“We believe that the order for the attack was given in Kobane,” assured.

For Ankara, the YPG and the PKK are “terrorist” groups.

This Monday, Turkey He rejected US condolences for the attack, claiming that Washington “supports the terrorists” in Kobane.

The city of Kobane gained notoriety for the 2015 battle that allowed US-backed Kurdish forces to repel the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group.

the busy avenue istiklal, partly closed on Sunday, was reopened on Monday morning. But all the banks were withdrawn, according to AFP.

A red carpet covered the site of the explosion and passers-by deposited red carnations.

PKK and NATO

The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by Turkeythe United States and the European Union, and has been in an armed struggle against the Turkish government since the 1980s.

Ankara has pointed him out in the past as responsible for bloody attacks on Turkish territory.

In December 2016, a double attack near the Besiktas football stadium in Istanbul, which caused 47 deaths (39 of them police officers) and injured 160, was claimed by the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), a close Kurdish radical group. to the PKK.

The PKK is at the center of the pulse between Sweden and Turkeywhich has been blocking its entry into NATO since May, for accusing it of being too tolerant of the group.

Ankara requests the extradition of several of its members, according to a principle of agreement signed in June with Sweden and Finland, another Nordic country that wants to join the Atlantic Alliance.

Following Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s visit to Ankara last week, the Swedish Parliament is preparing to change the constitution to toughen its anti-terrorism legislation.

The PKK is often the target of Turkish military operations against its bases in northern Iraq and Syria.

Source: Elcomercio

Ronald Payne

I, Ronald Payne, am a journalist and author who dedicated his life to telling the stories that need to be said. I have over 7 years of experience as a reporter and editor, covering everything from politics to business to crime.