Speaking to reporters in Istanbul before leaving for Ankara in the wake of today's massacre of demonstrators for peace, HDP Co-President Selahattin Demirtaş said the bomb attack came during a period of debates of an imminent ceasefire.

Demirtaş said “We are facing a state mindset that became a mafia, murderer and a serial killer.”

'RIOT POLICE MOBILIZE INSTEAD OF AMBULANCES'

Pointing out that police forces attacked the scene with tear gas soon after the incident and hindered the access of ambulances, Demirtaş said it was not ambulances but riot police that mobilized after the massacre in the heart of the Turkish capital. “It is obvious that there is an intention to increase the number of deaths. And now representatives of the government and the Prime Minister will say 'maintain your common sense' in our faces, while the police forces under their command attack the wounded people. What sort of a government has this become as its police fire tear gas on the people, just like what happened in Diyarbakır? I do not know what kind of a bomb has caused this massacre but it was definitely a malicious one. A highly effective bomb was used here to ensure a high number of casualties, as was the case in Suruç and Diyarbakır. The forces behind this massacre will not be revealed either, because there is an explicit force behind it, just like in Diyarbakır and Suruç”

'THE STATE BECAME A MAFIA AND SERIAL KILLER'

Demirtaş asked; "Is it possible for a state, whose intelligence organization is this powerful, to not have any information on this incident?, and continued; "There is a bitter situation in question. We are facing a state mindset that became a mafia, murderer and a serial killer which wants to take the society captive. We will overcome these days with the resistance of those not surrendering to persecution. Yet, we will bring those responsible to account within the scope of the law. We will not allow these incidents to go down in history as just a cruelty. We are assured that this mindset will not last forever.”

'WE CANCELLED OUR ELECTION PROGRAM EVERYWHERE'

HDP Co-President said the party has cancelled all its election program everywhere which they cannot possible run while dozens of people have just been killed. He said they will be dealing with the casualties and manifest everywhere that they will be resisting these attacks. "Freedom and peace is much more important than elections", he added.