Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivers a speech at the opening of the parliament session on October 1, 2023 in Ankara. ADEM ALTAN / AFP
In Turkey, the day was supposed to be dedicated to the ceremonial opening of the new parliamentary session in Ankara. It began with the noise of a suicide attack in the heart of the Turkish capital, then ended with a warning speech from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan filled with cold and dark anger, and barely two hours later there was a press release from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) claiming responsibility for the attack Morning attack.
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It is 9 a.m. when an ordinary gray van slowly approaches the entrance to the Ministry of Interior and then stops. The scene is recorded by a surveillance camera. We see the passenger get out and advance with the gun in his hand, shoot several times and blow himself up in front of the police station. The driver got out of the vehicle and ran away in turn, but disappeared from view before being shot by police. “A bullet in the head,” Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya clarified a little later.
The ministry building is about 200 meters from Parliament. The huge explosion can be heard several kilometers away. Two police officers were slightly injured. The neighborhood is cordoned off. The Attorney General’s Office very quickly announced the opening of an investigation and described the attack as “terrorist.” Prosecutors also imposed an information blackout and called on Turkish media to stop broadcasting images of the attack.
The negotiations have been at a standstill since 2018
In this tense context, the head of state walked to the Turkish Grand National Assembly in the early afternoon for the opening session of the parliament. In front of all MPs, Recep Tayyip Erdogan first spoke of the need for a new constitution before condemning the “terrorists” and “rogues who threaten peace and security” but “have not achieved their goals”. and will never reach her.”
And then the head of state immediately attacks the European Union (EU) again. “Turkey no longer expects anything from the EU, which has kept us waiting at its door for sixty years,” criticized the president. “We have kept all the promises we made to the EU, but it has kept almost none of them,” he denounced, adding that he would not tolerate “any new requirements or conditions for Turkey’s accession process.”
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