The Government of Turkey arrested a woman for the attack in Istanbul, in addition to rejecting condolences from the United States, accusing that this government supports the Kurds, possibly responsible for the attack that caused six deaths and injured at least 80 people
Turkey’s government on Monday rejected condolences from the United States for the deaths of six people in a bomb attack in Istanbul on Sunday.
The reason is that the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses that those responsible were Kurdish militants and pointed out that the US supplies weapons to these fighters in northern Syria.
It should be remembered that the Kurds are considered terrorists by Turkey.
“We do not accept the message of condolences from the US embassy. We reject it,” Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said in a televised message.
The condolences of the Government of President Joe Biden were sent by the US Embassy and confirmed by White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre.
“USA. strongly condemns the act of violence that took place in Istanbul today,” she tweeted. “Our thoughts are with those who were injured and our deepest condolences to those who lost someone.”
He added that the US supports its allies’ fight against terrorism.
“We stand shoulder to shoulder with Turkey, our NATO ally, against terrorism,” Jean-Pierre said.
The Kurds – or the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) – denied the attack, but Turkish police said they arrested the alleged attacker, Ahlam Albashir, a Syrian citizen.
Albashir told Turkish authorities that she was trained by Kurdish militants and she entered Turkey through Afrin, another northern Syrian city.
Despite the accusations against the Kurds, Turkey is investigating other possible attackers.
The jump of the attack in one of the tourist areas of Istanbul caused six deaths and left at least 80 people injured.