"We condemn the New Year’s Eve incident in Istanbul," Karayilan told media associated with the PKK. "No Kurdish force or Kurdish person has been involved in the attack and it has not been carried out by us."
He added that he doubted the Kurdistan Freedom Hawks, TAK, an offshoot of the PKK, carried out the attack.
Karayilan also sent his condolences to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery for the wounded.
Thirty-nine people were killed and 40 others wounded in an armed attack on Istanbul’s Reina nightclub early Sunday morning, including 16 foreigners, the Turkish interior ministry said.
The bodies of 21 of the dead have been identified so far, said Turkey’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, Reuters reported.
A 22 Kurdish youth named Ahmed Raad was among the dead and two other Kurds were wounded in the attack, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Ministry of Interior confirmed on Sunday.
A young Kurdish woman who was at the site of the incident is also reported missing.
The attacker, believed to be a sole gunman, remains at large and Turkish authorities have not named any individuals or groups suspected of being involved in the attack. No group has claimed responsibility.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a defiant written statement on Sunday. "Turkey is firm on doing whatever it takes to protect its citizens' safety and peace in the region," he said, according to state-run Anadolu Agency. "Turkey will stand together and not give passage to dirty games of terrorists."
An investigation is ongoing.
"Our police and security units are working intensely,” said Prime Minister Binali Yildirim in a news briefing Sunday. “We will later share the information gathered with the public."
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