Emergency ministerial meeting over Ankara blasts

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is chairing an emergency security meeting Saturday over the bombing of peace protestors in Ankara.

The meeting began at 12:00 p.m. local time (09:00GMT) at the prime minister’s office, according to prime ministry sources.

Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan, Interior Minister Selami Altinok, Health Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu, Intelligence chief Hakan Fidan, General Director of Turkish National Police Mehmet Celalettin Lekesiz and Ankara governor Mehmet Kiliclar are attending.

Turkish president cancels programs following Ankara blasts

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan cancelled all scheduled programs in Istanbul on Saturday following two explosions that rocked an area close to the Ankara train station, presidential sources said.

Erdogan was expected to take part in two programs in Istanbul.

At least 30 people were killed and 126 were wounded in the blast. Bodies lay in front of the station on Hipodrum Street, where people had started to arrive for a peace rally.

Paramedics tended to the injured as a police helicopter circled overhead. Protest banners and flags littered the ground and members of the public helped carry the injured to ambulances and buses to take them to area hospitals.

Emergency services had raced to the scene following the blast at 10.05 a.m. local time (0705GMT).

Many people had gathered outside the station for a demonstration to be held in nearby Sihhiye Square. 

Two opposition parties cancel their programs

Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu condemned the attack. “We all should curse the terror, regardless of whichever political view we have or whichever religion we belong to,” he said in Istanbul. “We face a scene that Turkey does not deserve.”

Kilicdaroglu and Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag cancelled election events for the day. Turkey is to hold a general election on Nov. 1.

The HDP was among the groups who called for the demonstration.

The rally, organized by the Confederation of Public Sector Trades' Unions (KESK), Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DISK), Turkish Medical Association (TTB) and Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB) was to call for an end to the renewed conflict between the terrorist organization PKK and the Turkish state.

Eyewitnesses said there were two consecutive blasts and there was an unconfirmed report that at least one suicide bomber was responsible.

The victims were mostly people who had gathered outside the station for a demonstration to be held in nearby at Sihhiye Square. The rally, organized by the Confederation of Public Sector Trades' Unions (KESK), was to call for an end to the renewed conflict between the terrorist organization PKK and the Turkish state. 

The blast occurred amid fresh violence between the PKK and the Turkish state and as Turkey prepares for a general election on Nov. 1.