A new attack in Ankara
Alongside the international community, Romania firmly condemns Sundays attack in Turkeys capital, Ankara, which has killed tens of people.
Bogdan Matei, 14.03.2016, 14:28
Bucharest and Ankara have many things in common: hundreds of years of common history, NATO membership, sustainable trade relations and a bilateral strategic partnership concluded in 2011. All these things make Romanians sensitive to the tragedy on the other shore of the Black Sea.
The Romanian Foreign Ministry officials have firmly and promptly condemned Sunday’s terrorist attack perpetrated in Ankara, which has killed tens of people and wounded scores. The Romanian officials have conveyed condolences to the victims’ families, showing compassion for the people wounded in this tragic event.
Such actions cannot be justified in any way, the Romanian officials underlined, recalling that Romania remains firmly committed to fighting all forms of terrorism and reiterating the need to intensify international efforts to combat them. World chancelleries are concerned with the tragedy in Ankara and important world leaders have expressed compassion for the victims and determination to fight terrorism.
The attack, which was not claimed in the first hours, was blamed by the authorities on the Kurdish breakaway militants. A similar attack, committed on February 17, was claimed by the organization self-styled “The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks”, a splinter group of the PKK- the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, a guerilla group active since the 1980s.
Hostilities between Ankara and the PKK were resumed after a two-year-and-a-half truce, leaving behind many dead in both camps. According to analysts, the PKK has so far focused on military targets and avoided the civilian ones. Besides the decade-long conflict with the Kurdish militants, Turkey has been targeted over the past years by the so-called Islamic State organization that has committed at least 4 attacks, including in Ankara and Istanbul.
Turkey is part of the international coalition against the Islamic State and is hosting on its territory American warplanes that are bombing targets of the Jihadists in Syria and Iraq. For at least 25 years the Turkish state and people have been the target of attackers animated by various ideological and religious convictions. Be they ethnic Armenians, Arabs or Kurds, Turkish ultra nationalists, far left militants or Islamists, the assassins have killed many people.
Last year, on October 10, in Ankara, 103 people were killed and more than 500 were wounded in the bloodiest attack ever committed in Turkey and blamed on the Islamic State. The Turkish president Regep Tayyip Erdogan said the attacks would serve only to strengthen the resolve of Turkey’s security forces to fight terrorism. He said his country would never give up its right to defend itself, given that it has become a target because of the regional instability of the past years. The Turkish president also added that the terrorist organizations are now targeting civilians since they have lost the fight against the security forces.
