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Opposition Suspects Turkish Gov't Behind Attacks

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JERUSALEM, Israel -- Israeli President Reuven Rivlin extended condolences to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan following the double suicide bombing at a peace rally organized by opponents of the government in Ankara, which killed at least 128 people and wounded more than 500.
 
"On behalf of the people of Israel, I would like to offer our sincere condolences to Your Excellency, to the people of Turkey and to its leaders," Rivlin said in a statement released by his office.
 
The rally, organized in part by the Peoples' Democratic Party and supported by Turkey's Kurdish minority, became the target of the deadliest terror attack in the history of modern Turkey.
 
An AFP correspondent at the scene of the carnage reported seeing thousands of ball bearings on the ground, an indication the terrorists intended to kill and injure as many demonstrators as possible. 
 
Rivlin urged the Turkish president to stand with Israel against such violence.
 
"We must stand united in the fight against those who promote the use of violence rather than dialogue and continue to destroy the lives of so many," he wrote. "I believe that you share my hopes for a better and more secure future for all the peoples of our region."
 
On Saturday, tens of thousands of Turks demonstrated against the government at a rally in Istanbul. Many, including HDP leader Selahattin Demirtas, accuse the state of being behind the suicide bombings. 
 
Demirtas suggested condolences be extended to the people, not Erdogan, according to AFP, and called on the Turkish people to help end Erdogan's rule, beginning with legislative elections on November 1.
 
"We are not going to act out of revenge and hatred, but we are going to ask for [people to be held to] account," he said.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's office said Sunday they're examining the remains of the suicide bombers to help determine who was behind the attack.
 
For the first time since coming to power in 2002, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost its majority in last June's elections. Erdogan, who served as prime minister from 2003 to 2014, was hoping for a decisive victory that would have positioned him to alter Turkey's constitution, thereby strengthening his powers as president.
 
Since assuming office in 2003, Erdogan has steered the country toward a stricter observance of Islam, objecting to labeling Turkey a moderate Muslim nation. Just last week, he said Islam cannot be classified as "moderate or not."
 
"It is unacceptable for us to agree with such a definition," Erdogan said at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, the Turkish Hurriyet Daily News reported. "Moreover, Islam cannot be classified as moderate or not."

Meanwhile, Rivlin's remarks came as Israeli-Turkish relations remain strained, with Erdogan still blaming Israel for the 2010 confrontation aboard the Turkish-owned flagship Mavi Marmara dispatched to breach Israel's naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.
 
Nine pro-Palestinian Turkish activists were killed during a confrontation on board the ship. Despite years of diplomatic efforts to clarify what actually took place, Erdogan has yet to restore diplomatic ties with its former ally.

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About The Author

Tzippe
Barrow

From her perch high atop the mountains surrounding Jerusalem, Tzippe Barrow tries to provide a bird’s eye view of events unfolding in her country. Tzippe’s parents were born to Russian Jewish immigrants, who fled the czar’s pogroms to make a new life in America. As a teenager, Tzippe wanted to spend a summer in Israel, but her parents, sensing the very real possibility that she might want to live there, sent her and her sister to Switzerland instead. Twenty years later, the Lord opened the door to visit the ancient homeland of her people.