Turkey Blames Attacka on Military Convoys, Which Killed 28, On Kurds

I don't know if this is an accurate claim. Erdogan tends to lie a lot.

But, for whatever Erdogan's claims may be worth, he says this was the Kurds, specifically the group YPG (which fights against ISIS) in coordination with the Kurdish terrorist nationalist/communist group PKK.

Turkey has blamed Wednesday’s car bomb attack on a military convoy in Ankara on Kurds based in Syria, as another explosion hit a convoy in the south-east.

The Turkish prime minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, alleged that Wednesday’s attack, which left 28 dead, was carried out by a Syrian Kurdish fighter with links to the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish militia that has been supported by the US in the fight against Islamic State in northern Syria. The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) assisted with the attack, Davutoğlu said.

“We collected intelligence all night,” Davutoğlu told reporters in Ankara. “The perpetrators have been fully identified. The attack was carried out by YPG member Salih Necer, who came in from Syria.”

Fourteen people have been held in connection with the attack.

Davutoğlu said Turkish intelligence had established where the militants had crossed into Turkey and how their networks were organised.

...

The Turkish government has lashed out at its western allies, foremost the US, over their refusal to designate the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union (PYD) and its armed wing, the YPG, as a terrorist organisation.

I suppose it's possible the YPG decided to provoke a two front war vs. both Syria and Turkey. But it's also possible that Erdogan is doing what he usually does, which is branding movements he doesn't like to be "terrorists." He claimed the pro-openness protesters of a couple of years ago were terrorists and foreign agents -- possibly under Jewish control. Because of course he did.

posted by Ace at 03:33 PM

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