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Kurdish rebels behind Ankara blast, experts say

Kurdish rebels may have staged a powerful blast in Ankara which killed six people to warn Turkey to lay off from ever attacking their bases in northern Iraq, experts say.

Tuesday's blast ripped through the capital's busy Ulus commercial district during the evening rush hour, injuring 121 people, eight of them Pakistanis, and was blamed by Ankara on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The PKK, which has led a bloody, 22-year campaign for self-rule in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast, has denied any involvement but experts monitoring the group remain unconvinced.

"It's no surprise. The special forces of the PKK, the TAK, have staged attacks in metropolises and tourist places in the past," said Rusen Cakir from the Vatan newspaper who has written an acclaimed book on the Kurdish question.

"It's pointless for them to attack security forces because they can't beat them so they choose other targets," he said, especially in spring and summer when the number of visitors peak.

A group calling itself the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK) claimed responsibility for a string of bombings against civilian targets last year and threatened to continue hitting the tourism sector, which attracts millions of holidaymakers every year.

Turkish officials say TAK is a front for PKK attacks on civilian targets; the PKK claims TAK is a splinter group over which it has no control.

The Turkish army fighting the PKK regularly seizes large amounts of plastic explosives it says the militants bring across the border into Turkey from their bases in northern Iraq.

More than 37,000 people have been killed since the PKK, outlawed by Turkey and much of the international community, took up arms against the Ankara government in 1984.

Cakir said the real motive could be a warning to Ankara to hold off any plans to attack rebel bases in northern Iraq.

The Turkish army has for a long time wanted to intervene militarily, but the US, which invaded Iraq in 2003, has asked Ankara to hold off saying it could destabilize the region.

Mehmet Farac, an expert on the Kurdish question and a journalist at the centre-right Cumhuriyet daily, said the attack was linked to Turkey's sacking of a special envoy tasked with coordinating the fight against armed Kurdish rebels.

Ankara on Monday dropped retired general Edip Baser for saying that a consultation process with the US was not working, saying his remarks could "adversely affect" the joint US-Turkish struggle to stamp out rebel bases in northern Iraq.

"The PKK is very worried at the idea that the sacking of Edip Baser could pave the way for a programme of annihilation," he said in an article published on Wednesday.

"With the latest attack, the PKK is trying to escape the tightening noose," he said, recalling that the army had deployed large numbers of troops in the Kurdish-majority Anatolia region over the last two months.

International relations expert Huseyin Bagci said the attacks could be linked to Ankara's move to tighten pressure on pro-Kurdish politicians ahead of the July 22 general elections.

"The more stumbling blocks Turkey puts up for pro-Kurdish politicians will more likely lead to further bomb attacks by radical groups," he said.

Ankara has mounted pressure on the pro-Kurdish Democratic People's Party (DTP), whose members are often targetted by legal proceedings launched by the state.

Last week four DTP members were barred by Turkey's final court of appeals from contesting the upcoming polls because of their previous judicial record -- which Kurdish activists interpret as a ploy to hound them and the party.
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