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WORLD NEWSTuesday 13 October 2015
Turkey faces period of instability in wake of attacks
SUZAN FRASER against the ruling party, the also in uncharted waters in An unidentified man kicks flowers left by people in the memory
DESMOND BUTLER election could create new terms of political polariza- of the victims of Saturday’s attacks, at the site of the bombings in
Associated Press power struggles just as the tion in the country.” Ankara, Turkey, Monday, Oct. 12, 2015. The motives of the man
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — country grapples with more Turkey has suffered a spiral are unknown, and he was immediately attacked by mourners
The suicide bombings that than 2 million refugees and of violence since July, when attending the memorial.
ripped through a rally pro- tries to avoid being drawn a similar suicide bombing
moting peace in Turkey’s into the chaos in neighbor- killed 33 Turkish and Kurd- (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
capital have magnified ing Syria and Iraq. ish activists in a town near
the political uncertainty This is a dramatic and dan- the Syrian border, ending
ahead of a key election gerous time for the mostly a cease-fire. Kurdish rebels
Nov. 1 and raised fears that Muslim nation and NATO blamed Turkey’s govern-
the country may be head- ally, so often cited as an ment, and hundreds have
ing toward an extended example of stability in a tu- been killed since then in
period of instability. The multuous region. the renewed conflict with
blasts — Turkey’s bloodiest “We are now facing un- security forces.
in years — have further po- charted waters in terms of No one has claimed re-
larized the country as Presi- deadly violence in Turkey,” sponsibility for Saturday’s
dent Recep Tayyip Erdo- wrote Omer Taspinar of the explosions at the Ankara
gan tries again for a ruling Brookings Institution in To- peace rally, which killed
majority in parliament. And day’s Zaman, an opposi- at least 97 people and
with political winds blowing tion newspaper. “We are wounded hundreds.
Deputy Prime Minister Nu- sible, and believe they
man Kurtulmus said Mon- likely infiltrated Turkey from
day that the two bomb- a neighboring country, he
ers exploded about 5 kilo- said.
grams (11 pounds) of dy- Kurtulmus called for unity
namite each, and that au- and solidarity in response
thorities have detained “a to these attacks, which he
large number” of suspects. said were aimed to sow dis-
Investigators are close to cord and create “deep fis-
identifying those respon- sures” within Turkey.q
Indonesia tries seven suspected
militants over Islamic State links
NINIEK KARMINI Ridwan Sungkar, Helmi Mu-
Associated Press hammad Alamudi and Ab-
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) dul Hakim, as well as two
— Indonesia began trials others who helped them
Monday of seven men on go to Syria to join Islamic
charges of conspiring with State jihadists.
terrorists and recruiting for The seventh, Tuah Febri-
militant groups in the Mid- wansyah — also known
east, including the Islamic as Fachry — is accused of
State, which has an esti- actively spreading IS pro-
mated hundreds of Indo- paganda through his own
nesians as members. radical website and post-
The government has out- ing violent videos of ter-
lawed the Islamic State rorism activities on the In-
group and spoken forceful- ternet, including a video
ly against it, as have main- showing militants in Syria
stream religious groups in giving military-style training
the world’s largest Muslim to Indonesian children.
nation. One fear is that mili- The seven men being tried,
tants who travel abroad will aged 32 to 51, were ar-
return home and conduct rested in police raids in late
terrorist acts in Indonesia. March and early April in the
The West Jakarta District capital, Jakarta, and East
Court began separate tri- Java’s Malang town.q
als for Ahmad Junaedi,
