Turkish protesters blame government for Rehyanlı blasts
Hundreds of Turkish citizens have held demonstrations in the southern Turkish province Hatay and in the country’s largest city Istanbul to protest against Saturday’s twin car bombings, which killed 46 people and injured over a hundred others in the town of Reyhanli.
On Thursday, the protesters condemned the violence, noting that the outbreak of bloodshed was due to the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s support for armed militants in Syria.
In Istanbul, the police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the demonstrators who were marching towards the office of Erdogan.
A similar demonstration was held in Ankara on Saturday, in which dozens of people marched in the street and chanted slogans criticizing Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
Turkey has accused Damascus of being behind the attack but Syria has dismissed the claim.
Syria Information Minister Omran al-Zohbi told a news conference on Sunday that his country “did not commit and would never commit such an act because our values would not allow that.”
He blamed Ankara for the Saturday bombings in Reyhanli as well as the ongoing unrest in Syria by facilitating the flow of arms, explosives, vehicles, militants and money across the border into the Arab country.
“It is Erdogan who should be asked about this act… He and his party bear direct responsibility,” Zohbi said.
The Syrian minister also stated that Turkey has planned the attacks to use them as a pretext to justify foreign intervention in Syria.
“Why this timing? Why these attack, just days before the meeting between Erdogan and (US President Barack) Obama? Does he (Erdogan), whose country is a NATO member, want to incite the United States (into intervening in Syria) by telling him his country has been attacked?” Zohbi said.
He added that the Turkish government has turned its border areas with Syria into centers for international terrorism.
“No one has the right to make arbitrary accusations. He accuses us first, and then says he will find the proof. That actually means he will fabricate the evidence,” Zohbi said, referring to Turkish Interior Minister Muammer Guler.
