Kurdish rebels have recently stepped up their attacks in Turkey's southeast.
Officials from the Turkish province of Van said they suspected Kurdish guerrillas had planned a suicide bombing attack that killed three people and injured 18 others on Thursday in the country's southeast. The local chief of police,Tacettin Kurt, said a police officer, a civilian and an unidentified man died in the blast, which was close to the local governor's office. Mustafa Yavuz, the deputy governor of Van, said the body of the unidentified man was torn apart, leading police to suspect that he may have been a suicide bomber.
According to the Associated Press, Turkish television is quoting police as saying that security forces in Van had received intelligence reports a month ago about three suicide bombers planning attacks in the city. Yavuz would not confirm that report, saying only that "security forces received several intelligence reports, all of which were assessed carefully."
The bombing comes only days after suspected rebels killed four police officers on Monday in an ambush near the southeastern city of Batman and detonated a bomb under the car of a military officer in the town of Idil in Sirnak province. Guerrillas of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, have recently stepped up their attacks in the region, while Kurdish militants believed linked to the outlawed group have staged several bombings across Turkey during the past month.
General behind attacks on Kurds?
But the attack also follows an announcement by Turkey's Justice Ministry on Wednesday that it was investigating a regional prosecutor, who claims a top Turkish general is behind attacks on Kurdish targets aimed at stirring up unrest in the area. Ferhat Sarikaya, chief prosecutor of Van province, accuses General Yasar Büyükanit, Turkey's second highest ranking officer, of setting up an illegal group that bombed a bookstore in the town of Semdinli near the Iranian border in November 2005. One person died in the attack on the shop, which allegedly belonged to a PKK functionary.
The attempt to indict a top general -- Büyükanit has been tipped to become chief of staff of the country's powerful armed forces -- has triggered tensions between the country's secular military and the civilian authorities led by the ruling AK Party, which has Islamist roots. Sarikaya says the military wants to provoke the government into blocking further freedoms for Kurds, thus jeopardizing Turkey's bid to join the European Union.
Büyükanit has denied the charges and the military leadership has been outraged by the affair. The current chief of staff, Hilmi Ozkok, who is retiring in August has held emergency talks with both Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and President Ahmet Necdet Sezer. Erdogan has tried to play down the affair while claiming his political opponents are trying to stir up tension between the military and the judiciary for their own aims.
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül , in Vienna for EU talks on Wednesday, said that his country would continue carrying out reforms and reaffirmed Turkey's commitment to freedom of expression. "We will work very hard to put Turkish democracy on an irrevocable path," Gül told reporters at a news conference following talks with Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik. Turkey began membership negotiations -- expected to take over a decade -- to join the European Union late last year.
mry/ap/reuters
Post to other social networks:
Stay informed with our free news services:
| All news from SPIEGEL International | Twitter | RSS |
© SPIEGEL ONLINE 2006
All Rights Reserved
Reproduction only allowed with the permission of SPIEGELnet GmbH
