ANKARA
Opposition politicians on Wednesday proposed three days mourning for the 32 people killed in the Suruc bomb attack in southern Turkey.
The motion by the Republican People’s Party (CHP), the second largest party in Turkey’s parliament, proposed a draft-law to show national unity following Monday’s suspected suicide attack that has been widely blamed on Daesh.
“It has become a priority to give a public message in unity against the terror organization, the enemy of humanity, called Daesh,” the party said in the proposal presented to parliament.
The government has been criticized over its reaction to the bombing, which targeted a group of left-wing activists planning to travel to Kobani, the Syrian town across the border from Suruc that has been devastated by fighting between Daesh and Kurdish forces.
On Tuesday, CHP Deputy Chairman Haluk Koc complained that Turkey had previously declared a day of mourning for the death of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, who passed away aged 90 in January but not for the 32 victims of a terror attack on Turkish soil.
Speaking at a press conference following a meeting of the party’s executive body in Ankara, Koc questioned the delay.
Selahattin Demirtas, co-chairman of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), also criticized President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for not cutting short an official visit to Northern Cyprus following the attack.
Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin strongly reacted to accusations Tuesday, saying it was “regrettable that some politicians use this attack as an opportunity to provoke citizens for political interests and plant seeds of animosity”.
Kalin said that Erdogan "made a statement yesterday [Monday] where he openly and fiercely condemned the terrorist attack in Suruc and stressed that the perpetrators would be found and punished whoever they may be."
He also said Turkey had listed Daesh as a terrorist organization in October 2013 and since then had deported around 1,600 foreign nationals who have been found to have ties with it.
