DIYARBAKIR, Turkey — The armed wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attack in Turkey’s mainly-Kurdish Diyarbakir city that targeted a police station killing one police officer and two civilians.
The People’s Protections Forces (HPG), which has resumed an armed campaign against the Turkish state since mid-2015, said that its militants who carried out the attack against the security station returned to their “places” unharmed, calling the conduct of the militants “professional.”
The statement, which was carried out by the PKK-affiliated ANF news agency, said that it was an attack against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) in revenge for those killed by the Turkish security forces.
Both the AKP and the MHP have joined forces campaigning for a new set of constitutional changes that gives executive powers to the country’s president, replacing the current parliamentary system with an executive presidency.
Turkey’s interior minister Suleyman Soylu told reporters on Tuesday morning that it appeared that it was accidental, with no “outside intervention,” only to backtrack the day after telling the Turkish media that it was a “terror attack.”
The blast occurred Tuesday at a workshop inside the police complex as an armored police vehicle was being repaired, the Turkish authorities said.
The private DHA news agency said at least five people were detained in connection with the attack.
Soylu told Haber Turk that the attackers dug a tunnel from outside the police station, making their way to the workshop, and put explosives under the repair facility.
The attack came just five days before the referendum on the constitutional changes on Sunday where the Kurdish votes could play a decisive role in the outcome of the vote.
The main pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), whose key leaders are kept in prison for alleged links to the PKK, is campaigning for a ‘No’ vote, together with the main opposition party the Republican People’s Party (CHP), saying that the new changes to the constitution will lead to an authoritarian system.
