In an apparent attempt to hide its negligence, the Turkish government has imposed a media blackout on the probe into twin suicide bombings that claimed at least 99 lives at an Oct. 10 peace rally in Ankara. Turkish authorities’ failure to stop the assailants, who reportedly were on the National Intelligence Organization’s (MIT) watch list, points to serious government culpability. In addition to gagging the press, the government appears to be leaking information designed to muddy the waters.
In what amounts to a mind-boggling scenario, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has trotted out the motley crew of usual suspects: the Islamic State (IS), the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the far-left underground Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) and the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Davutoglu has also said investigators are looking into possible links between IS and the PKK; this claim is being whispered persistently into the ears of journalists and opinion-makers. An extraordinary effort appears to be underway to lead the public by the nose rather than to shed light on the attack.
Regardless of where the probe ends up, one fact is indisputable: The government, through its domestic politics and Syria policy, has created a climate of hostility and aggression toward its opponents. Another fact: The security failure of not preventing the bombings is plain as day. Given these two points alone, the government can’t shrug off responsibility for the carnage.
According to findings not yet announced as official, the two alleged bombers have been identified as Yunus Emre Alagoz and Omer Deniz Dundar. Both were on the wanted lists of the police and the MIT as prospective suicide bombers. The police have established that the men arrived in Ankara in separate cars from the border province of Gaziantep, possibly after crossing from Syria. Alagoz was already well-known to security forces as the elder brother of Abdurrahman Alagoz, the alleged suicide bomber who killed 34 leftist activists in the border town of Suruc on July 20. Authorities said both brothers belonged to the so-called Dokumacilar group of young men from Adiyaman recruited for the jihad in Syria.
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