The death toll from the twin suicide bombs at a peace rally in Ankara on Saturday has reached 128. The Turkish police were not present to provide security (they never are at "opposition" events), but they did show up to fire tear gas at the mourners afterward.
Who did it? Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu offered three possibilities: the Kurdish separatist organization PKK; anonymous "extreme leftists"; or Islamic State. Selahattin Demirtas, the co-leader of the pro-Kurdish HDP party that organized the rally, offered a fourth alternative: people trying to advance the interests of President Recep Tayyib Erdogan's Justice and Development (AK) Party.
The atrocity certainly served Erdogan's strategy of creating an atmosphere of fear and impending calamity before the elections on Nov. 1, in which he hopes to get back the parliamentary majority he lost in the June elections. But it's hard to believe that the AK Party has suicide bombers at its disposal: It is an Islamic party, but nothing like that extreme.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.