Turkey suffers yet another attack as a twin bombing outside Beşiktaş football club’s stadium kills at least 29 and injures 166 more. With Turkey increasingly looking into the abyss, members of the government claim handing all power to the increasingly authoritarian president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, will rectify, rather than amplify, the country’s deadly instability […]
Turkey suffers yet another attack as a twin bombing outside Beşiktaş football club’s stadium kills at least 29 and injures 166 more. With Turkey increasingly looking into the abyss, members of the government claim handing all power to the increasingly authoritarian president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, will rectify, rather than amplify, the country’s deadly instability
A total of 29 people were killed and another 166 were wounded on Dec. 10 when a double bombing hit central Istanbul near Beşiktaş’s Vodafone Arena Stadium, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu announced.
The first explosion was came from a moving car that directly targeted riot police near the stadium, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş said in a press conference early on Dec. 11.
The second attack came 45 seconds after the first one when a suicide bomber detonated explosives at Maçka Park just across from the stadium, Kurtulmuş said.
The interior minister later announced that 27 police officers and two civilians were killed while 166 people were wounded in the twin bombings.
Ambulances quickly appeared on the scene, but most of the injured had to be transferred further away to Şişli Etfal Hospital because former hospitals in the closer Taksim area have been been demolished to make way for large development projects.
As is customary after large attack or negative incident, the government immediately imposed a press ban on the incident on the grounds of “national security.”
Ten suspects have been detained in connection with the attack, Soylu said.
Health Minister Recep Akdağ said 20 people were discharged from hospitals while six of the wounded were in intensive care, three of whom are in a critical condition.
The huge blasts occurred at around 10:20 p.m., around 90 minutes after a match between Beşiktaş and Bursaspor ended at the nearby ground. It was heard on both sides of the Bosphorus.
Following the attack, Bursaspor stated on its official Twitter account that there were no injuries among its supporters.
Beşiktaş also condemned the attack in a statement issued on its website, as did the Turkish Football Federation (TFF), Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray and Trabzonspor.
Security forces later detonated a suspicious car near the scene in a controlled explosion early on Dec. 11, Doğan News Agency reported.
A total of six prosecutors were assigned to investigate the attack.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, although Kurtulmuş quickly announced that signs suggested that the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) was responsible.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has also threatened renewed attacks in Turkey.
Government to continue push for total control
Speaking around three hours after the attack, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said it did not matter which group was responsible for the attack, while adding that it would not prevent the government from continuing its march toward its goals.
Earlier in the day, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) submitted charter amendments to parliament that would extend almost unlimited powers to Erdoğan as part of his much desired plan to convert Turkey from a parliamentary to a presidential system.
Among other measures, Erdoğan will be granted the power to rule by decree, which he has currently been doing as part of the counter-coup that the government has been leading against opponents since 15 July, when an erstwhile ally, the Gülen movement, attempted to seize power in a coup as part of an intra-Islamist power struggle.
One of Erdoğan’s advisers, Burhan Kuzu, hailed the proposed amendments immediately after the Beşiktaş attack, promising that it would bring stability to the country. Kuzu had famously announced after June 2015 elections that Turkey had “chosen chaos” by not electing the AKP to a majority government. The Turkish state subsequently ended a peace process with Kurdish rebels, restarting a war in southeast Turkey and launching operations in Syria in an apparent bid to win nationalist support for a super presidency.
Hürriyet Daily News/Sendika.Org
