The young people who died or got injured in Suruç had one purpose: Going to Kobanê and joining the reconstruction of the town. Socialist Youth Associations Federation (SGDF) members issued a press statement before going to Suruç. It had been public for a month that these young people were getting ready to go.

Suruç residents, young people and non-governmental organization representatives greeted the youth in Suruç. They met with the district governor and told him that they would like to cross over to Kobanê. District governor kept them waiting by saying that only a few of them could cross over as opposed to the whole group.

The bloody attack in Suruç took place after young people made a press statement in Amara Cultural Center in response to the district governor’s prevention.

We should ask the following questions with regards to the attack:

1- Police comprehensively searched the youth as they were heading to Amara Cultural Center. The police checkpoint was 200 meters away from Amara, and the police could have set up the checkpoint nearer to the cultural center. Did the police set up the checkpoint 200 meters away from Amara so that they would not get hurt by the explosion?

2- How did the ISIS suicide bomber enter the cultural center in an environment where the police searched each notebook, camera and even pencil on the slaughtered youth?

3- How did the Turkish intelligence, that surveils everywhere in Suruç including the Mürşitpınar Border Gate, manage to not ‘see’ the ISIS member?

4- How is it possible for the police to not identify the ISIS member despite the fact that Amara Cultural Center is located next to a police station?

5- Why did the police attack civilians who were carrying the injured people to the hospital? Is it because they wanted the wounded people to die as well?

6- How many ISIS cells exist in and around Suruç? Is the state aware of these cells?

7- Why were the bodies examined in Antep Forensics as opposed to Urfa Forensics? What were they trying to hide?

8- There are witness statements claiming that there were two attackers, one man exploding the bomb and one women getting injured, and the injured women is under police custody currently. Who is the woman attacker, born in 1995 in Sivas, who is being held under police custody? Why do the officials fail to make a statement on this issue?

The respondent of these questions is the state, and the questions’ answers are obvious.

Many people foresaw such attacks after the YPG’s liberation of Girê Spî (Tel Abyad). As camera footage confirmed, ISIS gangs escaped from Girê Spî and crossed over to Akçakale freely and happily. Soon after, Dicle News Agency and other oppositional media organs documented the ISIS headquarter in Akçakale. DİHA also reported on the formation of an ISIS cell in Ceylanpınar two days ago.

Girê Spî was a heavy defeat for AKP and ISIS because logistics were arranged through the border gate here. AKP officials made their discontent at the liberation of Girê Spî public, and Erdoğan said that they would not ‘stand by and watch’ what was unfolding. They are now trying to avenge the liberation of Girê Spî in North Kurdistan. When ISIS got defeated in Rojava, they brought the war over to this side of the border. They are repeating the attack on Kobanê on June 25 in Suruç, Urfa and Diyarbakır. The brutal massacre in Suruç targeted the democratic and free life model developed in Rojava and the people in solidarity with the Kurdish Freedom Movement.

We are in a dangerous situation as Erdoğan and his AKP put the hate they accumulated after their defeat in Rojava as well as the June 7 elections into practice. We cannot appeal to tyrants; the state will not protect civilians and institutions from ISIS. It is ISIS that the state protects and tolerates. This current situation makes self-defense more crucial than ever.

How can we organize our self-defense?

1- Legitimate self-defense is a serious and important issue. We should organize this systematically and without panic, without relying on the state.

2- We should not leave security to the hands of police officers in collective actions that take place in border towns as well as urban centers such as Amed. It is more likely to be under ISIS attack in areas where there is an intense police presence. Hundreds of civilians can form security circles for self-defense.

3- Danger will persist as long as ISIS cells exist. Therefore, young people should take initiative and eliminate ISIS cells operating under the disguise of aid organizations and journals.

4- Non-governmental organizations, democratic politicians, parliamentarians and the press should clarify its stance regarding the ISIS headquarter in the TİGEM farmhouse in Akçakale. Parliamentarians and NGOs should expose why TİGEM is closed to civilians.