Up to 50 Killed in Bombing at Socialist Solidarity Assembly in Suruç (Turkey), little doubt ISIS to Blame.
The Islamists’ Massacre of our Beloved Comrades.
20 July 2015
A blast has occurred at the Amara Culture Center in Suruç district of Urfa, across the border from Kobanê, where members of the Socialist Youth Associations Federation (SGDF), coming from various cities have been staying before their planned cross into Kobanê to help reconstruction work today.
DBP (Democratic Regions’ Party) Urfa co-chair İsmail Kaplan said that a suicide bomb caused the blast in Suruç district of Urfa, which targeted around 300 members of Socialist Youth Associations Federation (SGDF) before their cross into Kobanê.
Kaplan said that over 50 people have lost their lives and dozens were wounded, according to initial reports.
The blast occurred in the garden of Amara Culture Center where they youths have been staying since their arrival in the district yesterday. The youths gathered in the garden to release a statement to the press before crossing into Kobanê.
The garden of the culture center turned into a a blood bath after the blast as the bodies of the youths scattered around in pieces.
Ambulances have been rushed to the scene to transport the wounded to hospitals. The bodies of those killed remain in the garden.
Another bomb was set off concurrently across the border, in Kobanê and it is likely that the attack was carried out by ISIS gangs.
The BBC reports:
An explosion has killed at least 27 people and wounded many more in the Turkish town of Suruc near the Syrian border, the interior ministry says.
The blast occurred in the garden of a cultural centre. Hundreds of youth workers were reportedly staying there.
There is no official word on the cause of the explosion. Reports say it could have been a suicide attack.
Suruc, located near the Syrian town of Kobane, houses many refugees who fled fighting there in recent months.
Kobane has been a battleground between militants from the Islamic State (IS) group and Kurdish fighters since September last year, when IS overran the town, forcing most of its residents to flee into Turkey.
The Federation of Socialist Youth Associations (SGDF) is reported to have had at least 300 members staying at the Amara Culture Centre to take part in rebuilding work in Kobane.
The federation tweeted photographs showing the group in the garden before the blast and the scene afterwards.
Pervin Buldan, a senior lawmaker from Turkey’s pro-Kurdish HDP opposition party, told Reuters that local officials were investigating the possibility it was a suicide bombing.
“Turkish and Kurdish youth had come to cross into Kobane, and there were three or four days of activities planned,” she said.
The hashtags #SuruçtaKatliamVar (There is a massacre in Suruç) and #SuruçMassacre started trending on Twitter soon after the explosion.
Absolute love and solidarity to our comrades!
Lundi 20 juillet 2015 : Rassemblement suite au massacre au Kurdistan de Turquie ce matin à 19 h 30, Monument des mobiles, haut de la Canebière, Marseille
Rallies and Demonstrations in Germany:
London: Protest in front of the Turkish Embassy | Demotix.com.
More information on Protests as they develop: inagist.
Update (Tuesday). A Facebook friend (GH) comments,
The massacre by ISIS in Suruc was not just against the Kurdish movement but a direct attack on a Left Wing youth group, one associated with the RWCA group in Stoke Newington. A close friend of mine knows people who were murdered today Fundamentalist Islamism is killing friends of my friends. The attacks in Syria by ISIS and other Islamist groups are against Kurdish groups with relatives in London.
An important article on the Ensemble (the ‘third’ grouping in the Front de gauche) site illustrates how the French left has immediately shown absolute support for our sisters and brothers in Suruç:
L’Etat Islamique attaque la solidarité entre les peuples à Suruç.
Tendance Coatesy 
Murderers of young people and children. Revenge will be the return to Kobane of the laughter of children playing safely.
Mick Hall
July 20, 2015 at 1:17 pm
‘… little doubt ISIS to blame’ — and with a little help from the Turkish authorities, I wouldn’t be surprised.
Dr Paul
July 20, 2015 at 1:32 pm
There is already a Wikipedia entry for this terrible massacre of our sisters and brothers:
“The district of Suruç is located on the Syrian-Turkish border in the Province of Şanlıurfa, approximately 10km from the Syrian town of Kobanî. The populations of both Suruç and Kobanî are mostly Kurds, with the cultural ties between the two having resulted in deadly riots in south-eastern Turkey in October 2014 when Kobanî was under siege by Islamic State militants. The riots had mainly protested the Turkish government’s lack of intervention in Kobanî against ISIL.[8] Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan claimed that he was not prepared to launch operations against ISIL unless it was also against the forces of Bashar Al Assad.[9] Furthermore, allegations of covert funding and the arming of ISIL by the Turkish government, which came under particular scrutiny following the 2014 MİT lorries scandal, also caused heavy controversy.
Kobani was retaken from ISIL forces in late January 2015, with the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) taking almost full control of the city. ISIL vowed to return, committing a series of massacres in the city in June 2015. The Socialist Youth Associations Federation (SGDF) of Turkey requested permission to cross the border and participate in the reconstruction of the war-torn city, receiving the backing of the Peoples’
The bombing appeared to target members of the Socialist Youth Associations Federation (SGDF), of which 300 members had travelled to Suruç from İstanbul in order to cross the border into Kobanî to take part in reconstruction projects there. The members were staying at the Amara Culture Centre and were giving a press statement on Kobanî’s reconstruction when the bombings took place. An explosion in Kobanî itself also took place at the same time as the bombing in Suruç.
Bombing
A survivor present at the press statement when the bombing took place, a theatre actor named Murat Akdağ, claimed that the bomb exploded in the middle of the group listening to the statement being made.[10] Wounds on casualties taken to hospital showed evidence of burns and cluster bomb fragments.[11] The Municipality of Suruç also claimed that there was a potential for a second bombing, asking individuals close to the Amara Cultural Centre to evacuate the area.[12]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Suru%C3%A7_bombing
Andrew Coates
July 20, 2015 at 4:31 pm
Andrew Coates
July 20, 2015 at 4:38 pm
This reminds me of Utøya.
Paul Canning (@pauloCanning)
July 20, 2015 at 6:18 pm
‘This reminds me of Utøya.’ Good point: the Islamist extremists and the anti-Islam extremists have a common enemy in the left, as well as parallels in other ways.
Dr Paul
July 20, 2015 at 11:46 pm
Surely, Doc, the left *is* (or should be) “anti -Islam” in the sense that we’re anti- all religion and certainly, we should be militantly “anti-Islamist.”
Jim Denham
July 21, 2015 at 11:40 am
“Left Unity Youth
*** Massacre of Socialist Youth in Turkey ***
It is with great sadness that we extend our condolences to the families and comrades of those murdered in Suruç. Those killed were primarily members of the Socialist Youth Associations Federation who were planning to cross into the Kurdish canton of Kobane to aid with the reconstruction efforts following the liberation of Kobane from Daesh (ISIS) earlier this year.
Official Turkish sources, local Kurdish officials and most news outlets point to ISIS as the perpetrators of the attack whilst some Kurdish sources place the blame at the feet of the ruling AKP party. Statements have been released linking the massacre to the series of attacks and killings of HDP supporters prior to the recent elections which the AKP blamed ISIS for despite the organisation not claiming responsibility.
Regardless of who committed the atrocity it is clear that this attack is politically motivated, being an attack both on the progressive Socialist forces fighting for democracy, equality and liberation within Turkey and those defending the radical progressive transformation taking place within Kobane from the aggressions of Daesh and the Turkish state.
We send solidarity to those who will continue this fight and we mourn those murdered as friends and comrades.”
https://www.facebook.com/leftunityyouth
Andrew Coates
July 21, 2015 at 11:48 am
Andrew Coates
July 21, 2015 at 12:31 pm
honestly shocked at this. not gonna troll your site anymore.
why hasn’t any of the left stwc etc commented on this horrific event?
xavier
July 21, 2015 at 8:11 pm
Xavier,
The reason STWC etc haven’t commented is because they don’t actually care.
Or, of course this terrible carnage finally shows how utterly wrong they have been all along.
German and Reece never admit to being wrong, they just fail to comment and hope everybody moves on to the next thing (like they do). . This tragedy however, should not be a vehicle to point fingers at Rees and Co. those young people are worth a thousand times more than that.
Their bravery should never be forgotten.
Dave
July 21, 2015 at 10:36 pm
Well said, Dave. RIP these good young people. May every follower of Daesh meet a bloody and painful end.
Lamia
July 22, 2015 at 8:21 am