Seven years after the serious terrorist attack in Ankara, the police used violence against participants of a commemoration event. All access roads and side streets around the main railway station, the scene of the massacre, were cordoned off with police barriers, and numerous people were assaulted. The security forces prevented the demonstrators and members of the media from gathering for the commemoration on Monday. Only relatives and some members of parliament and representatives of important institutions such as the Medical Association (TTB) were allowed to attend. Around twenty people who protested against the police action were detained without giving any reason.

On 10 October 2015, two suicide bombers from an ISIS terrorist cell known to the police blew themselves up in front of the train station in the Turkish capital in the middle of a peace rally promoted by the HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party) together with the trade union federation KESK and other left-wing democratic organisations against the Turkish state's war against the Kurdish population. Over a hundred people died and more than 500 others were injured, some seriously. To date, the attack has cost the lives of 104 people involved in the peace initiative.

“MURDERER ISIS, COLLABORATOR AKP”

At 10.04 a.m., the time of the attack, a minute's silence was observed for the victims in front of the railway station in Ankara, despite police disruptions. Many of those present carried signs with the photos of their killed relatives and placards reading "We do not forget, we do not forgive", "Murderer ISIS, Collaborator AKP" and "The time will come when the murderers will answer to the people". Mehtap Sakinci Coşgun, who lost her husband in the attack seven years ago and subsequently founded the "Peace and Solidarity Association of 10 October" with other bereaved families, was the first to give a speech.

“OUR GRIEF IS NOW ACKNOWLEDGED”

"Every year on 10 October, we gather in this place to demand respect for our suffering and pain. But unfortunately, time and again, we find that our grief is not acknowledged and people who want to remember their loved ones are attacked. We do not want to be isolated from our friends who want to mourn with us. We want to commemorate together, without police officers beating up on mourners." With regard to the trial proceedings surrounding the attack, Coşgun criticized the fact that the victims were still denied peace of mind, as victims and surviving relatives have not been given justice or fairness to this day. So far, only nine people have been convicted in connection with the attack, who are alleged to have been behind the preparations for the massacre. Forces within the state who, according to research by a lawyers' collective, were allegedly involved in the attack have not been charged. Relatives of the victims accuse the Turkish government of not wanting to clarify the exact circumstances of the crime because of its own guilt.

ACCUSATION: CONTRACT KILLING BY THE STATE

The suicide attack in Ankara was the most serious terrorist attack in Turkey's history. It took place at a time when President Tayyip Erdoğan was building his one-man regime. On 30 October 2014, the National Security Council approved the plan to crush the Kurdish liberation movement. The outcome of the parliamentary election in June 2015 initially thwarted Erdoğan's plans and shook his state doctrine. After 13 years of sole rule, the AKP lost its absolute majority, thanks to the HDP entering parliament with over 13 per cent of the vote and 80 MPs. "This was a landslide defeat," Şükran Kablan Yeşil, the co-chair of KESK, said at the commemoration ceremony, recalling the political phase in 2015. Just two days before the election, there had been an attack on the HDP's final campaign rally in Amed (tr. Diyarbakir), killing five people. One of the subsequent massacres was the Suruç attack on 20 July 2015, in which 33 young people were blown up by a suicide bomber. The ISIS cell monitored by security authorities, which also carried out the Ankara attack, is responsible for both attacks.

“THE STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE CONTINUES EVERYWHERE”

"These were attacks by barbaric forces in this country, which were specifically directed against those circles that are in resistance for the democratisation of Turkey. Those responsible for the Ankara massacre are not only those who remained silent in the face of the dark times, those who helped prepare the attacks, those who are still on the run or in prison because of their complicity, but also those within the political elite. Our struggle for justice will only end when all those responsible have been brought to justice. This is especially true for those who, then as now, believe themselves to be under the protection of the rulers," said Şükran Kablan Yeşil.

Afterwards, other people had their say, including DISK leader Arzu Çerkezoğlu, TMMOB chair Emin Koramaz, TTB general secretary Vedat Bulut and several victims' relatives. Among them was Zöhre Tedik, mother of activist Korkmaz Tedik. She condemned the fact that only relatives were allowed by the police to attend the commemoration. "The struggle for justice continues everywhere, until our last drop of blood," said the Kurdish woman from Malatya. At the end, red carnations were laid down in the square in front of the station as a sign of remembrance.