A commemoration event was held in Istanbul, Turkey, on the 6th anniversary of the Ankara massacre on Sunday. Families of the victims and members of several organisations gathered at the city’s Kadıköy Square as the Platform for Labour, Peace and Democracy made a press statement.
Özer Değirmenci, a member of the 10 October Association, said the massacre constituted “the greatest mass murder in the history of Turkey.”
Değirmenci emphasised that the preceding Suruç (Pirsus) and Diyarbakır (Amed) massacres were not effectively investigated, indicating that if the culprits of these massacres had actually been captured as a result of such investigations the Ankara massacre would not have happened.
The attack on 10 October 2015 occurred near Ankara’s main train station where people had gathered for a march calling for peace and democracy. The blast killed 104 people and injured more than 500.
After six years, the families and the lawyers for the families continue to demand justice and call for the prosecution of everyone responsible, including state officials.
The Suruç and Ankara bombings have much wider political aspects to them than at first glance. Both of these bombings had a direct impact on the re-run of the parliamentary election of 1 November 2015, when there was a dramatic rise in votes for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which had lost its majority in parliament only five months before.
