A strong explosion killed six people and injured 81 on Sunday in the heart of the big city. A young woman of Syrian nationality was arrested.
Correspondent in Istanbul
Istiklal Avenue is once again bereaved. A deadly explosion shook this famous pedestrian artery of Istanbul on Sunday, November 13, at a busy time, reviving the sinister memory of the 2016 attacks. The attack killed six people and injured 81, half of whom had to be hospitalized. . Among the victims, all Turkish citizens, are a 9-year-old girl and a 15-year-old girl.
“The perpetrators of this vile attack will be unmasked. Let our population be sure that the perpetrators will be punished“, had warned Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during a televised address. “The first observations suggest a terrorist attack“, had completed the Turkish president.
A young woman has since been arrested, accused of planting the bomb. She is of Syrian nationality and admitted the facts, announced the Turkish police, quoted by local media. According to the police, she admitted acting on the orders of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and receiving instructions in Kobani in northeastern Syria.
Denials by the PKK and the Syrian Kurds
The Turkish authorities subsequently accused the PKK and the Syrian Kurds of being behind this attack, which has not yet been claimed. But the PKK claimed “have no connection with this event” and recalleddo not target civilians“.
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The PKK, considered a terrorist organization by Ankara but also by its Western allies including the United States and the European Union, has been in armed struggle against the Turkish government since the mid-1980s. It has often been held responsible by history of bloody attacks on Turkish soil.
The Turkish interior minister also accused Kurdish forces that control most of northeastern Syria, which Ankara considers terrorists, of being behind the attack. “We believe that the order for the attack was given from Kobané”, he added. A city that has remained famous for the battle which, in 2015, enabled Kurdish forces to repel the Islamic State group, Kobané is controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) whose People’s Protection Units (YPG), allied to the PKK, are a major component.
But there again, the Syrian Kurds have denied this information, assuring that “[leurs] forces had no connection with the Istanbul explosion”.
Fireball
On an amateur video, immediately posted on Twitter, we can see a ball of fire in the distance, accompanied by a powerful detonation before passers-by fled in a panic. Other images circulating on social networks show injured people, broken glass strewn on the ground. Several ambulances and fire trucks were immediately dispatched to the scene while the police were busy patrolling the surroundings. ” Our fire teams are mobilized on Istiklal Avenue. They are working in the area in coordination with the police”tweeted the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, offering his condolences to the families of the victims.
I heard a big boom. Around me were families with panicked children. I saw two people on the ground, an overturned stroller, and I immediately ran to take refuge in an adjacent street.
An Italian tourist
” I heard a big boom. Around me were families with panicked children. I saw two people on the ground, an overturned stroller, and I immediately ran to take refuge in an adjacent street », Says a still breathless Italian tourist. Visiting Turkey for the weekend, she was leaving a restaurant when the explosion occurred, according to the governor of Istanbul at 4:20 p.m. local time, next to the Mango store, between Taksim Square and the Galatasaray High School. The Minister of Justice, Bekir Bozdag, had himself mentioned a “bag” placed on a bench:“A woman sat on a bench for 40-45 minutes and after a while there was an explosion. All data on this woman is currently being reviewed. (…)Either this bag contained a timer or someone activated it remotely.
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According to other witnesses, many shops rushed to close their iron shutters, including in the area adjacent to the Galata Tower. By late afternoon, helicopters were flying over the area.
A popular avenue for tourists
Located in the heart of Istanbul, the country’s cultural and economic capital, Istiklal Avenue is particularly popular with tourists for its many shops, traditional ice creams, cafes, street musicians and street vendors. Lively day and night, it is always crowded on weekends. It also hosts several consulates: French, Russian, Swedish and Dutch. “French nationals and their relatives must at all costs avoid this sector of the city and any public or outdoor space and return without delay to their places of residence or accommodation. As far as possible, all use of public transport should be avoided. “, immediately informed the French consulate in an email sent to the French community.
After the suicide attack of March 19, 2016, which killed four people and injured many on the same Istiklal Avenue, the chancelleries had greatly reinforced their security arrangements. A time engraved in the memory of Istanbulites: that year, Istanbul had been hit by a wave of attacks attributed, for some of them, to the Islamic State group, accused of wanting to make Turkey pay for its participation in the international coalition against Daesh in Syria.
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In early January, 12 German tourists lost their lives in an attack in the historic Sultanahmet district. In June, a triple suicide bombing killed 47 people at Ataturk International Airport. On New Year’s Eve, a nightclub located on the banks of the Bosphorus had, in turn, been targeted. The year 2016 was also marked by other attacks, attributed this time to the Kurdish guerrillas of the PKK, classified as terrorist by Ankara. The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), a radical group close to the PKK, claimed responsibility for a double attack near the Besiktas football stadium, which killed 44 people in December 2016.
After having suffered for a long time from these attacks, then from the Covid pandemic, tourism was once again booming, especially since this summer, in Turkey. This Sunday’s attack, a few months before a new legislative and presidential election and in a context of heightened political tension, risks once again chilling foreign travelers.
SEE ALSO – Explosion in Istanbul: “It smells of terrorism“, according to Erdogan