The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has condemned a car bomb attack that killed at least two and injured seven in İzmir on Thursday.
“We strongly condemn the attack which took place near İzmir Courthouse,” said a written statement released by the HDP on Thursday.
“The problems of Turkey can be solved through dialogue, negotiation and democratization instead of violence, clashes and war. The way to overcome the problem is democratic politics and prudent actions. We call on political parties, NGOs, democratic organizations and all of society, instead of resorting to violence to come together around steps towards peace, fraternity and democracy, and to solve the problems in talks.”
İzmir Governor Erol Ayyıldız said initial findings show that the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) was behind the attack.
One police officer and a courthouse employee lost their lives in the explosion.
“Thanks to the attention of our slain police officer, the real attack was prevented. The initial findings so far point to the PKK,” Ayyıldız told reporters.
Turkish police teams shot dead two suspected attackers and were searching for a third after the attack.
Ayyıldız said two Kalashnikov rifles, eight hand grenades and RPG7 rocket projectors were seized from the dead terrorists.
The governor also said seven people were injured in the explosion, three of them police officers.
Turkey faces multiple security threats. It has been hit by a series of bombings over the past 18 months, some of them blamed on the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), others on the PKK.
The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK), an offshoot of the PKK, last month claimed responsibility for two attacks in İstanbul and İzmir that killed around 60 people.