Turkey blames IS for Ankara terror attack, but survivors point finger at government

The Islamic State is the “primary focus” of investigators after suicide bombings killed nearly 100 people at a rally in the capital during the weekend, Turkey’s prime minister said on Monday. But even as authorities vowed to identify the perpetrators, survivors of the bloodshed directed their anger at the government.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “can still rule the country if he wants to. But he divided us. After the bombings, one part of the country is not sorry that this happened,” said Veli Sacilik, a member of a civil servants union who witnessed the attack.

Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) have governed Turkey since 2002, but the party lost its ruling majority for the first time in elections in June. The upset set off months of tense negotiations over a coalition government that ultimately failed. In the meantime, Turkey’s ceasefire with the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which has waged a decadeslong struggle for the rights ethnic Kurds in Turkey, ended as both sides resumed attacks.

Erdogan had called for snap elections scheduled for November 1, and opponents accuse the president of sabotaging the country’s politics to regain his party’s majority in the polls. Saturday’s demonstration, which mobilised activists from across the country, was supposed to serve as a nationwide call for peace.