Erdoğan: 14 detained for Ankara attack, int’l community must understand PKK-PYD ties

ANKARA

AA Photo





Fourteen suspects in seven provinces were detained for links to a car bomb attack in Ankara on Feb. 18 that claimed at least 28 lives, including 20 high ranking soldiers and eight citizens, and wounded 61 people, Turkish President Rececp Tayyip Erdoğan has said.“Although the PKK and the PYD are denying it, the information from the Interior Ministry and intelligence show that they are behind [the attack],” said Erdoğan, referring to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Democratic Union Party (PYD).PYD leader Salih Muslim had earlier denied that the Syrian Kurdish group was behind the attack.“I guess that the detentions will not be limited to 14,” Erdoğan said, adding that the domestic and foreign connections behind the attack had been discovered.“This process will conduce our friends in the international community to understand how tight the PYD and YPG’s connection to the PKK is,” Erdoğan said, repeating that Turkey had insisted on the link, submitting documents.The People’s Protection Units (YPG) is the armed wing of the PYD.The U.S. has refused to name the PYD a terrorist group as it is cooperating with the group in fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria. The stance against the PYD has become a major bone of contention between allies U.S. and Turkey.Erdoğan also said he was sad that the attack came just four months after an Ankara suicide bombing that claimed 101 lives.