Erdogan blames PKK for Istanbul blasts

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan implicitly blamed separatist Kurdish rebels Monday for two bomb blasts that ripped through a crowded Istanbul street, killing 17 people and wounding more than 150. The attack Sunday night further raised tensions hours before the Constitutional Court met to decide the fate of Erdogan's Justice and Development Party, facing closure on charges of undermining Turkey's secular system.



Erdogan all but named the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), describing the two explosions as "the cost" of an intensified crackdown against the rebels in Turkey and in neighboring northern Iraq, where they take refuge.



"Unfortunately, the cost of this [military action] is heavy. The incident last night was one such example," he said at the scene of the blasts as residents chanted, "Down with the PKK."



The explosions were the deadliest attack against civilians in Turkey since 2003, when 63 people were killed in four suicide bombings in Istanbul blamed on Al-Qaeda.



Both bombs were planted in concrete rubbish containers on a crowded pedestrian street lined with shops and cafes in the popular Gungoren neighborhood on Istanbul's European side.



A small device went off first at around 10:00 p.m. on Sunday, creating the initial panic, officials said.



A second, more powerful explosion followed about 10 minutes later about 50 meters away as passers-by and residents milled around the site of the first blast.



Istanbul Governor Muammer Guler put the death toll at 17, five of them children, and warned it could rise with six people in critical condition, the AFP reports.



The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and much of the international community, took up arms for Kurdish self-rule in the southeast in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed more than 37,000 lives.