site.btaAnkara Suicide Attack and Developments Around It Headline Turkish Press

The suicide bombing in Ankara on Sunday and the developments around it are the leading topic in the Turkish press on the first day of the new week.

Pro-government and opposition publications condemn the suicide bombing outside the Interior Ministry in which two police officers were injured. The police managed to neutralize the second attacker, thus preventing another much larger attack. Newspapers specify that the attack was launched right across the entrance to the Ankara Police Department, located in the Interior Ministry building.

Some of the headlines of Turkish publications on the subject are: "Terrorist Attack in the Capital" in the Cumhuriyet, "End of Evil" in the Akşam, and the Sözcü, "Turkiye Is One, One Heart Against Terror" in the Sabah, "End of Terrorism" in the Milliyet.

The pro-government newspaper Yeni Şafak said that the police officers had averted a major tragedy with their quick reactions and bravery. 

Many pro-government media described what happened on Sunday as an "attempted attack", claiming that a major terrorist attack had been thwarted.

The terrorist attack was launched hours before the new session of the Turkish parliament was due to open, Yeni Şafak reports.

The parliamentary building is located very close to the Interior Ministry.

The Kurdish militant political organization or PKK, recognized as terrorist by Turkiye, claimed responsibility for the attack, and late Sunday night Turkiye's Interior Ministry announced that it had identified one of the attackers as a member of the terrorist group. The attack was carried out in retaliation for the liquidation by Turkish security forces of a high-ranking member of the Kurdish group in Diyarbakir, the newspapers noted. 

The opposition media outlet Sözcü points out that the attackers also planned to use grenade launchers against law enforcement forces. 

The pro-government newspaper Sabah reports that the attackers used a car stolen from the central Turkish district of Kayseri to carry out the attack, before killing its owner, young veterinarian Mikail Bozlogan. The body of Bozlogan, who had been shot, was found dumped near a village in Kayseri county. Bozlogan, 24, had been married for only two years and had a four-month-old baby.

Sabah also writes that the two terrorists have taken aim at Turkiye's peace and democracy. "Immediate response of the Turkish armed forces: 20 PKK targets in northern Iraq were defeated," the newspaper said in reference to the operation launched against Kurdish militant targets in Iraq.

Milliyet also points out that the Turkish armed forces reacted immediately after the brutal attack, with fighter jets shelling 20 targets in Mount Qandil in northern Iraq, which is a major base for PKK militants.

The brutal attack was condemned by leading politicians - both from the ruling party and its supporting formations, as well as from the supporters of the opposition, Sözcü writes.

The attack was condemned by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who vowed that the fight against terrorism would continue until the last terrorist is eliminated, and also by Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, the speaker of Turkiye's Grand National Assembly, Numan Kurtulmuş, and Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunç.

"We will continue with determination the fight against terrorism inside and outside the country," Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said.

"Our people and the state will not give any opportunity to terrorists, we will continue the fight against terrorism together," Numan Kurtulmus said.

"They (terrorists) will not achieve their goals. Let it be known that terrorism will be eradicated in the spirit of national unity and solidarity," Nationalist Movement Party (NAP) leader Devlet Bahçeli said.

"No matter who comes from where, we will all fight together," the leader of the main opposition People's Republican Party (CHP) Kemal Kiliçdaroğlu said.

Opposition party leader Meral Aksener also condemned the attack, thanking the police officers for their heroic actions and wishing a speedy recovery to the injured police officers.