Islamic State top suspect in Turkey bombing

Analysts say the bombings could only make the parliamentary election results less conclusive, meaning government stability will depend on the political parties ability to form coalitions and cooperate — an elusive capacity as the country becomes more and more polarized.“The optimistic scenario is that a broad based government will emerge and that it will re-establish stability and revitalize the peace process with the Kurds, ” said Sinan Ulgen, who runs the Istanbul-based EDAM think tank.“The other possibility is that the same picture will emerge, that a coalition wont be formed, leading Turkey into an even more tumultuous point, ” Ulgen said.

While no one group has been ruled out in the bombings, government opponents blamed security forces for failing to protect the peace rally.

Indeed, the attack in the heart of the capital – far from the conflicts bleeding over Turkey’s southern borders – is rattling nerves around the nation and beyond.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Saturday’s bombing, the worst of its kind on Turkish soil, was meant to influence the outcome of November polls Erdogan hopes will restore the AK party he founded to an overall parliamentary majority.

As investigators examine the theory that IS jihadists were behind the blasts, the Hurriyet daily reported that the authorities had taken DNA samples from families of 16 people suspected of being members of the group.

It also accused the AKP of relying on radical groups including Islamic State as proxies to fight Kurds in northern Syria, a charge the government strongly denies. The devastating attack, coming just three weeks before a general election, was described by authorities as among the many deadliest terror strikes in Turkey’s trendy historical past.

On Sunday, people once again massed in Ankara’s streets, this time expressing solidarity with the victims. “These attacks won’t turn Turkey into a Syria”, Davutoglu said. One Palestinian was reported to be among the dead.

On Sunday, police fired tear gas and scuffled with the mourners – a few chanting “Murderer Erdogan!” – who tried to reach the blast site to lay carnations. An ISIS supporter was blamed for carrying out that attack, but the group never claimed responsibility. But the group, not normally reticent about its attacks, made no claim to a similar bombing in the town of Suruc in July attributed to it; nor has it made any reference to the Ankara attack in internet postings.

An estimated 500 people were wounded, with several hundred still in the hospital as of Monday morning.

Here’s a little more about those two less globally known groups. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is becoming the focus of much of the popular anger, with many accusing his constant war against the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) of being the catalyst that spurs the sort of angst that results in such carnage.

The PKK is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the US. A few 40,000 have been killed in the predominantly Kurdish southeast since the PKK’s insurgency began in 1984.

“Their public statements show a readiness to blame the victims of this attack and our party”. This is their political responsibility.