Turkey Knew About Sunday's Ankara Blast in Advance

by Stephen Lendman

An apparent car-bombing in central Ankara's Kizilay Square killed at least 37, injured over 120 others - the second city attack this year.

It occurred near Turkey's justice and interior ministries. CCTV footage showed a car slowing down, then a huge blast. No one so far claimed responsibility.

Turkish authorities knew of an impending attack and its approximate location. US embassy officials were warned in advance. A statement issued on Sunday said:

"Last week, the US Embassy became aware of threat information through a Turkish government warning circulating in social media." 

"After ‎confirming the warning with Turkish authorities, the Embassy issued a notice to all American citizens in Ankara - both government employees and private citizens - and to Turkish employees of the US Embassy‎, as we routinely do when we learn of Turkish government information about threats."

They were told to avoid Ankara's Bahcelievler area, three miles from Kizilay Square in Cankaya District. Turkish authorities said they'll name the responsible party when its investigation concludes on Monday. Expect the PKK or other Kurdish group to be blamed.

The pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) condemned Sunday's incident, saying it shares "the huge pain felt along with our citizens."

Erdogan pledged to bring "terrorism to its knees." State-sponsored terrorism is Turkey's greatest threat.

Interior minister Efkan Ala indicated escalated military operations ahead in areas heavily populated by Turkish Kurds, civilians mostly harmed in all regime operations.

On Monday, Turkish warplanes bombed Kurdish areas in northern Iraq, the operation planned ahead of Sunday's blast, used as a pretext for naked aggression.

Continuing his war on free expression, Erdogan blocked access to Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites, using the phony pretext of them showing images of Sunday's blast and its victims to silence sources of regime criticism.

Broadcast media were banned from reporting information about what happened not approved by regime censors.

Was Sunday's incident terrorism or a state-sponsored false flag? Erdogan uses these incidents to justify the unjustifiable - waging naked aggression on Turkish, Iraqi and Syrian Kurds.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

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