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Updated 15.32
AT LEAST 86 PEOPLE have been killed when two explosions ripped through groups of leftist and pro-Kurdish activists gathering for an anti-government peace rally in the Turkish capital Ankara.
The attack, near Ankara’s main train station, was the deadliest in the city’s history and has ratcheted up tensions ahead of Turkey’s 1 November snap elections, which were already riding high amid the government’s offensive on Kurdish militants.
Bodies of the slain activists were seen strewn across the ground after the blasts, with the banners they had been holding lying next to them for the “Work, Peace and Democracy” rally.
62 people died at the scene of the blasts and 24 more then succumbed to their wounds in hospital, Health Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu told reporters in Ankara. He said another 186 people had been injured in the attack.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan denounced the “heinous attack”, saying it was aimed at “our unity and our country’s peace.”
A Turkish government official told AFP that the authorities “suspect that there is a terrorist connection,” without giving further details. Reports said they were investigating if a suicide bomber was involved.
There were scenes of chaos after the blasts, as ambulances raced to get to the wounded and police cordoned off the area around the train station.
“We heard one huge blast and then one smaller explosion and then there was a great movement and panic. Then we saw corpses around the station,” said Ahmet Onen, 52.
A demonstration that was to promote peace has turned into a massacre, I don’t understand this.
Turkish police fired in the air to disperse demonstrators angered by the deaths of their fellow activists from the scene, an AFP correspondent reported.
Barbaric attack
Amateur footage broadcast by NTV television showed smiling activists holding hands and dancing and then suddenly falling to the ground as a huge explosion went off behind them.
Initial reports spoke of a single explosion but Turkish media said later there had been two separate blasts in short sequence.
Reports said that hundreds of people in Ankara had rushed to hospital to donate blood for the victims.
With international concern growing over instability in the key NATO member, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini urged Turkey to “stand united against terrorists.”
French President Francois Hollande condemned the “odious terrorist attack” while Russian President Vladimir Putin passed his condolences to Erdogan.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was hosting a meeting of top officials, including powerful spy chief Hakan Fidan this afternoon to discuss the attack.
The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) was to have been one of several groups that was to have taken part in the pro-peace protest.
“We are faced with a huge massacre. A barbaric attack has been committed,” said the HDP’s leader Selahattin Demirtas.
He blamed a “mafia state” and a “state mentality which acts like a serial killer” for the attack.
PKK suspends activities
The attack comes with Turkey on edge ahead of 1 November polls and a wave of unrest over the past few months.
An attack in the predominantly Kurdish town of Suruc on July 20 targeting pro-HDP activists and blamed on Islamic State (IS) jihadists killed 32 people and wounded a hundred others.
The militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) accused Ankara of collaborating with IS and resumed attacks on the Turkish security forces after observing a two-year ceasefire.
Over 140 members of the security forces have since been killed while Ankara claims to have killed over 1,700 Kurdish militants in weeks of bombardments of PKK targets in southeast Turkey and northern Iraq.
With conspicuous timing, the PKK today announced it would suspend all attacks – except in self defence – ahead of the polls.
“Heeding calls from Turkey and abroad, our movement has decided on a state of inactivity by our guerillas, unless our people and our guerilla forces are attacked,” Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), an umbrella movement that includes the PKK, said in a statement.
The HDP performed strongly in the last election on 7 June, winning 80 seats in parliament to deprive Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of an outright majority for the first time since it came to power in 2002.
The AKP then failed to form a coalition in months of talks, prompting Erdogan – who had been hoping for a large majority to push through reforms to boost his powers – to call another election on 1 November.
The office of Davutoglu said that he had cancelled election campaigning for the next three days.
Originally published 11.11am
Genuine Question: If they made a billion euro profit in the first 6 months, are they making repayments to the government for the bailout?
AIB is actually 99.8% owned by the state but this is such a f*cked up little corrupt country we live in I wouldn’t be surprised of the state see any of money even though we own the bank!
No, the bail out isn’t a loan with repayments. The Government bought shares in the bank and will only get repayment by selling those shares at some stage. The banks pay a levy to the exchequer and they could potential pay dividend on the shares owned from their profits (not happening now) but either of those payments wouldn’t be repayment of the bail out
They repaid 1.6 billion to the exchequer in December 2015. An argument could made for holding on to it for another 20 – 30 years and taking parachute payments like that over the term but more than likely government will look to sell in the near future to make back some of the investment / bailout.
Their balance sheets are evidently still pretty shaky so there is no point in them paying out large dividends to the State until they have their own house in order, i.e. reinvest most profits back into bank for now
Ah, thanks guy. I wasn’t sure how that worked.
@ Damien. Johnny is not correct at all in what he is saying. AIB is rightly making repayments to the State right now. They repaid 1.6 billion three days ago. Widely reported – http://www.irishtimes.com/business/financial-services/aib-to-return-1-76bn-of-bailout-funding-to-the-state-1.2735276.
@ Damien. Mind you, that is a fraction of what those robben b’trds owe us.
I stress tested my mattress…….it still has room for a lot more Euro.
Problem is that the next crisis will likely result in a massive drop in the value of the euro. Any euros you put in your mattress now might well be worth s lot less in the future.
In the last bust…if I had just kept my money in the mattress and not invested it using ‘experts’ I would have been 12k better off.
How did Merkel test the stress test of Sperm Banks then?
Not by making a deposit then anyway?
no surprises there then, the government will still stand over them and continue to asset strip the state to do so. Its morally flexible stroke politics on all sides,
https://youtu.be/Gr39rdDkEIY
Its time to start calling a spade a spade. Right now the foxes are investigating break-ins at the hen house. That needs to change and fast.
The savage eye dealt with this topic well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HuBt56lUcE
ever decade there has been a mini crash of some sort, a few interest rate spikes and these banks will be looking to pick our pockets again.
Don’t borrow, don’t save and don’t set up standing orders or direct debits. It’s the only way to be.
The bankers are all well ,it’s the pleb’s that are at risk as always
The bank after how many years of destroying our economy are still no were near a solid foundation our governments have failed and set us up for another fall..
The banks are well capitalised!!! Didn’t we hear that before. http://m.independent.ie/business/irish/banking-inquiry/pat-neary-a-tale-of-incompetence-writ-large-31266748.html
Yes, we heard all this before and the mantra about the ‘soft landing’. I dread to think what a hard landing would be like in the lingo of the banks. Just don’t trust them!
How do they know what AIB will be at at the end of 2018
Buy gold
Buffet says equities beats gold into a cocked hat and he’s right ..
for most irish people, paying off their credits cards would be better advice…baby steps
Have children, then you can send them as child labour for the up coming WW3?
Or just post your granny to Cash my granny for gold to…
Seriously the world now has a system where debt is traded as a commodity? I suppose you can thank Bill Clinton for that???
Would Platinum be better?
They are both failed businesses
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1f833416-55c6-11e6-befd-2fc0c26b3c60.html#axzz4FtcWNjbl
AIB is worse than BOI in that graph.
What no one in Ireland is telling us is that this whole exercise is based on fantasy.
Fantasy because, at the behest of the commission, Greek, Portugese,,Slovenian nor Cypriot and other ‘small banks’ were totally excluded form the test. At the same time, certain other banks were also excluded.
Why?
Brussels pulling another fast one.
Is the E.U. Stress test a way to make sure the banks here BORROW more money from the ECB?
Was wondering if that Italian Bank has just done an Anglo style deal just like the one the 3 robben bistards got jailed in hotel mountjoy for.
@Brian Holmes… Using projected trading figures and then a hardcoded stress test/worst case scenario, projected figures must be realistic based on current trading stats. Banks would further prosper if rates were higher but that’s not realistic presently
Can we not just keep AIB and use its profits to run the HSE. While we are at it how about means tested state mortgages fair deals in the region of 500 euro per month under strict conditions if you miss 3 months of payments you are out,If you loose your job you have 6 months to find employment or you are out. No ifs or buts those are the rules kind of deal. can this not be done? Ignore the EU on certain social issues and fix the country.
Good point.banks can leverage money on deposit 33 times.they can take your 1000€ on deposit pay you a pittance in interest then lend out 40,000€ at 5+times the interest.its a license to print money that only morons could F up . Why should banks be in private hands ?
“Let’s keep the recovery going”.
If the actual level of real mortgage impairments were to be fully reflected in AIB Mortage Bank’s balance sheet, the position would be an awful lot worse. The high Court and Master’s List in Dublin are full of cases by AIB and AIB Mortgage Bank.
AIB and AIB Mortgage Bank are not cutting deals because they simply can’t afford to realise any losses and reflect these on their balance sheets.
Reflecting the true extent of mortgage impairments would mean that AIB Mortgage Bank is grossly insolvent.
Could someone tell me what this means for us that have some savings in these banks? I am clueless in finance. Thanks.
Who came top here as stable??
Mickey “Knuckles” O Brien’s Savings and Loan Shark Company.
Thank God, I thought it would be Mickey the Rat Savings and Loan then ;0)
Nothing to do with the DJ of the same name…
Skum the lot of them. MONEY MONEY MONEY hope they are happy.
The Banks don’t give a chit as long as they can rip the public off, its nothing to do with humanity they take Houses off people like sweets no concience.
have your say