September, 13 2006

A bomb explosion in one of the poorest sections of Diyarbakır, a mostly Kurdish city in southeast Turkey killed 11 people, mostly children earlier this week.

A racist Turkish group, Turkish Revenge Brigade, TIT has claimed responsibility on their web site and has written, “The best Kurd is a dead Kurd,” as reported by the ANF news agency. The group which has claimed similar “revenge” attacks in the past has been reported to have close ties with a secret but well known department under Turkish Military forces called Jitem, a notorious torture and assassination unit. Only few days prior to the bomb blast, Jitem was reported to have started educational and organizational meetings in Diyarbakır where ex-assassins and torturers had been called back to service. While the Turkish army vehemently rejects the existence of such a department, many internal documents within the Turkish army had emerged where the “non existent” unit had been mentioned by name. Kurdish sources and democratic organizations have questioned the possibility of this attack on poor Kurdish families and children and Jitem’s presence in the city at the time and the ties of Jitem with the Turkish Revenge Brigades.

Following the explosion, many democratic organizations and political parties are expressing their concern over developing racist events.

Reaction from Kurdish Democratic Society Party – DTP

The Diyarbakır branch of DTP, Democratic Society Party condemned the bomb attack against Kurdish citizens. The branch president Hilmi Aydoğdu said the blast coincided with the time when calls for cease fire between Kurdish guerillas and Turkish military forces were being extended. This showed what kind of provocation the society faced, he said. He added, “We are deeply concerned that these kinds of provocations will occur again. For this reason, we are calling on every sector of the society to be concerned and to focus their actions on peace and on cease fire. We are calling on everybody to be calm and responsible in contribution to resolving issues through dialog and not through violence. We are calling on workers, unions, the government, all political parties and civil society organizations to heed our call for peace and for cease fire.”

Diyarbakır Mayor: Explosion is a provocation against peace!

Diyarbakır mayor Osman Baydemir, speaking on the provocation event said, “It is obvious that the civilians were targeted. It is open that they tried to target the peace process. They tried to sabotage the demand for peace. This is very explicit.”

Osman Baydemir said these were difficult days to live in. He said he went to Ankara together with the representatives from DTP, the Democratic Society Party, to call for cease fire. He said, “I went to Istanbul to ask for cease fire so that no one would die, so that the economy could flourish, so that we could have peace. Before 24 hours passed, we have this monstrous attack.”

He also added that the place where the attack occurred was one of the busiest places in the city where people frequented even till midnight.

The mayor later visited the injured being treated at the city’s hospital.

Diyarbakır Bar condemns the attack

The president of Diyarbakır Bar Association, Sezgin Tanrıkulu condemned the attack against the Kurdish civilians in a written statement.

The statement read, “We are repeating our position we have been advocating for years. Terrorist methods or violence should not be used to resolve issues. We have evaluated the last attack as a provocative event to sabotage the peace process we are advocating. The ties between the attackers and the forces behind them should be immediately investigated and revealed by the government. Otherwise, these attacks will escalate into a civil war.”

Human Rights Association in Diyarbakır condemns the bomb attack

In a written statement\ the Human Rights Association, IHD, condemned the bomb planted at the most busiest part of town. In the statement the association said, “This barbaric attack against the civilians is aimed at creating a chaos, fear and social unrest.”

“The explosion killed 10 civilians, including 7 children, and injured 17 more. We are strongly condemning this attack, regardless of who the responsible part is.”

Protesting the blast: Shop Closures in Diyarbakır
The shopkeepers in Diyarbakır, the scene of the bomb blast that claimed 11 lives have shut down their stores to protest this deadly attack.

M.B.