US, Turkish divisions on Syria greater than ever

Fehim Tastekin reports that the charge made by Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Oct. 14 that the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) may have collaborated with the Islamic State (IS) in the terrorist bombings in Ankara four days earlier “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.”

Cengiz Candar writes, "The moment he [Davutoglu] made this allegation, IS not only still was the main suspect, but reporters had found who the second suicide bomber was. The first suicide bomber had already been identified as an IS operative. Key information came from Idris Emen, a young reporter who discovered the eastern town of Adiyaman as one of the sources of IS recruits in Turkey and had extensively reported about the community for the Radikal daily all the way back on Sept. 29, 2013, under the headline 'Adiyaman: The jihadist route to Syria.' The names he reported then became the perpetrators of IS suicide attacks at Diyarbakir on June 5, at Suruc on July 19 and at Ankara on Oct. 10. In the wake of the Ankara bombing, Emen spoke, in Adiyaman, to the father of the second suicide bomber in the Ankara attack. Although the man had informed security officials about his son’s IS involvement, no precautionary measures were taken. When all these reports were widely circulated, the government declared a ban on any reporting on the Ankara bombing while the investigation was underway.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Oct. 14, “For Turkey, there is no difference between the PKK, its extension PYD [Democratic Union Party of Syria] or [IS]. … They are all terrorist organizations with bloody hands.”