TURKEY: DIYARBAKIR BOMBING KILLS FIVE, INJURES

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 000021 SIPDIS C O R R E C T E D C O P Y (SUBJECT) SIPDIS PLEASE PASS TO DS/CC, DS/ICI/IPA E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/03/2018 TAGS: PTER ASEC PGOV TU SUBJECT: TURKEY: DIYARBAKIR BOMBING KILLS FIVE, INJURES SCORES ANKARA 00000021 001.2 OF 002 Classified By: Acting PolCounselor Kelly Degnan for reasons 1.4(b),(d) ¶1. (U) This is a joint Consulate Adana - Embassy Ankara cable. ¶2. (U) On January 3 at approximately 1650 hours local, an explosion in Diyarbakir's busy Yenisehir district rocked an area adjacent to the upscale Dedeman Hotel, a shopping mall, and military barracks, shattering windows in neighboring residential and municipality buildings. Police sources confirmed the explosive device was a remote-controlled VBIED, targeting a 46-seat military personnel bus carrying officers and NCOs. Post was unable to confirm press reports that the device was A4 and/or ammonium nitrate; lacking a completed forensics examination, police sources would not speculate on the material used. ¶3. (U) Turkish press report five people, including three students, died in the blast that wounded at least 67 and up to 110 others, five critically. There are no reports of American citizens dead or injured in the attack, and no Americans were registered at the Dedeman Hotel. While no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, mainstream Turkish press coverage is fingering the terrorist PKK and political leaders are labeling it &terrorism.8 -------------- WIDESPREAD POLITICAL CONDEMNATION -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Both PM Erdogan and President Gul denounced the attack, stressing that such incidents would not weaken the government's resolve to combat terrorism at both the national and international level. Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Diyarbakir MP Abdurrahman Kurt traveled to the city to attend funerals and visit the injured. Kurt told us he expects Interior Minister Atalay to join him soon. Turkish General Staff (TGS) Chief General Buyukanit is also scheduled to visit Diyarbakir today. ¶5. (SBU) Opposition party leaders also condemned the violence, including the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP),which reportedly will send an eight-member delegation to the blast site today. DTP Sirnak deputy Hasip Kaplan said the venue for solving Turkey's Kurdish problem is parliament; he called for the Speaker to convene all group party leaders to focus on the issue. -------------- -------------- ATTACK MARKS DIYARBAKIR,S FOURTH IN 15 MONTHS -------------- -------------- ¶6. (U) Diyarbakir Mayor Osman Baydemir, in Ankara during the attack, noted Diyarbakir had been the site of past tragedies and called for an end to the violence. Press underscored the point by detailing earlier incidents of violence in the past 15 months: a September 2006 bombing in a public park that killed ten (seven of whom were children) and wounded 15; a June 2007 bombing that killed one military service member and injured eight civilians; and an October 2007 grenade attack that killed one police officer and wounded three others. -------------- LOCAL REACTION OF OUTRAGE -------------- ¶7. (C) Sehmus Diken, Baydemir's advisor, was in his office when the bomb exploded and told us the magnitude was enormous. He said the attack was a big blow to the peace in Diyarbakir, regardless of who was responsible. He stressed it was still too early to assign blame, but referred to the bombing as the work of the "dark forces,8 implying either &deep state8 involvement or the PKK. ¶8. (C) Diyarbakir attorney Sedat Cinar said if the explosion had occurred ten minutes later, the number of casualties would have been much higher as a nearby tutoring center would have discharged its students. Cinar noted the fierce anger and outrage of local residents, many of whom consider this attack a massacre aimed at both military and civilians, as the car bomb was parked in front of a school. He also cautioned it was too early to make assumptions about responsibility for the attack. Cinar could not confirm reports on pro-Kurdish Firat Agency's website that ANKARA 00000021 002.2 OF 002 Diyarbakir's prosecutor had issued Turkish police a 16-day unlimited search warrant covering the whole province in connection with the attack. Attorney Fahri Karakoyun told us such warrants have been issued in the past after incidents of violence in Diyarbakir, but he had been unable to reach anyone in the prosecutor's office for comment. ¶9. (C) AKP's Kurt told us the NGO representatives and private citizens he met with after the explosion were labeling the bombing a terrorist attack. Kurt believes the incident could affect AKP plans to broaden its amnesty laws aimed at re-introducing low and mid-level PKK members into Turkish society. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶10. (C) Consulate contacts are strongly divided over drawing what many in Turkey often see as a foregone conclusion ) that the PKK is responsible for the attack. While one nationalist contact in Mersin views this as an &obvious8 sign of the PKK's revenge for ongoing TGS air assaults and an attempt to undermine the government's security authority, others caution against jumping to conclusions. Suspicions run deep and past incidents (the Susurluk scandal, the Semdinli bombing, etc.) serve as evidence for some of state and military (&deep state8) involvement in violent events designed to further a nationalist and military interventionist agenda. END COMMENT. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.sgov.gov.wiki/Portal:Turk ey. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turk ey MCELDOWNEY