Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has said his government will not allow Turkey to drift into instability after Monday's attack in southeastern Suruç that killed 32 people and injured over 100. "Despite the crisis and chaos in the region, we will not allow Turkey to drift into instability," Davutoğlu said on his official Twitter account late Tuesday.
The prime minister reiterated that Turkey will not compromise in its fight against terrorism. "ISIS [Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham] and other terrorist organizations will never achieve their goals," he said.
Monday's attack took place at a community center in Suruç, across the Syrian border from the town of Kobani, which had been the scene of a series of intense clashes when Kurdish forces expelled ISIS from the region last September.
The Health Ministry announced Tuesday that 32 had been killed in the attack.
The bombing targeted members of the Federation of Socialist Youth Associations (SGDF) who had gathered in the garden of the local municipality's Amara Cultural Center during their press conference, footage showed.
The activists had been planning to engage in efforts to rebuild Kobani after it was devastated by ISIS.
In his Twitter message, Davutoğlu also criticized pro-Kurdish politicians without naming anyone, saying: "I call on those who seek to leverage the death of young souls for politicking even as they have obvious links with terrorists [PKK]: Enough of your staining politics with blood."
The prime minister on Tuesday had called on the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) to "be prudent with their remarks" after the party urged its own branches and the nation to take precautions to protect themselves in the wake of the attack. HDP Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş said Tuesday media reports that claimed the HDP was calling on citizens to take arms were misleading and such accusations against the party were "as bitter as the massacre itself." Demirtaş had earlier said his party had no "organic relationship" with the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and EU. Pro-Kurdish politicians and others have criticized the government for not doing enough to fight ISIS. HDP offices and rallies were targeted by attacks by suspects with alleged ISIS links in the buildup to the June 7 parliamentary election.
