Families of the victims of Turkey’s deadliest terrorist attack refused to attend the inauguration of a monument dedicated to the victims in Ankara on Wednesday in protest of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), the Gazete Duvar news website reported.
The monument was unveiled at the Ankara central train station one day before the ninth anniversary of the attack, which claimed the lives of 103 people and injured more than 500 when two bombs exploded on October 10, 2015. The attacks targeted people from mainly leftist and pro-Kurdish groups who had gathered to stage a demonstration demanding peace and an end to the ongoing conflict between the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Turkish government.
CHP leader Özgür Özel, Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş, who is from CHP, and a number of other CHP lawmakers and officials attended the inauguration ceremony.
Genel Başkanımız Özgür Özel, Ankara Garı katliamının 9’uncu yıl dönümünde Ankara Büyükşehir Belediyemiz tarafından yaptırılan 10 Ekim Anıtı’nın açılışına katıldı. pic.twitter.com/XmTz2qV53s
— CHP 🇹🇷 (@herkesicinCHP) October 9, 2024
The October 10 Peace and Solidarity Association, established by the victims’ families, was not in attendance nor was the monument’s sculptor.
The association released a statement saying it had decided not to take part in the event since the association was informed only several hours before the ceremony by the CHP provincial branch and the Ankara Municipality that their program, on which they had been working on for days, had been cancelled and they would attend the ceremony as guests, not organizers.
The statement said the families do not accept this “imposition” and thus were not taking part in the ceremony.
The sculptor, Metin Yurdanur, also boycotted the event, saying it was impossible for him to attend when the victims’ families were not present and disapproved of it.
The monument, “Scream of the October 10 Victims’ Mothers” features the statue of a woman who looks to be screaming while holding her injured child.
Families will gather in front of the Ankara train station on Thursday to commemorate the victims on the ninth anniversary of the tragedy.
Although nine years have elapsed since the bombings, carried out by two brothers with suspected links to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), victims’ families are still seeking justice for their loved ones.
They demand accountability for the lack of transparency in the case, highlighting the authorities’ failure to arrest the main suspects, the ignoring of earlier leads and the withholding of evidence and intelligence reports from the court.
The families also demand the prosecution of public officials whose negligence might have paved the way for the tragedy. No public official has stood trial in relation to the attack so far.