- A blast on Sunday killed 6 and injured 81.
- Crowds have returned to Istiklal Avenue
- The incident shocked and defiant locals.
Crowds have returned to Istiklal Avenue, where a blast on Sunday killed 6 and injured 81. The incident shocked and defiant locals.
Furkan works at a chocolate shop near the bomb.
“We were smoking beside the door around 4:20pm,” he told Al Jazeera. “It exploded suddenly. Wow! It was scary.”
He said a crowd rapidly developed and he worried about a second device. The shop closed, but he returned on Monday.
After the incident, police closed Istiklal’s entrances. The Boulevard reopened on Monday, but the main entrance was shut by police until 3:45pm (12:35 GMT) as lawmakers visited the blast scene and put flowers as a memorial for the deaths. Some sources say 1,200 Turkish flags lined Istiklal.
Nine-year-old daughter and her father, teen and her mother, and married couple were killed. Everyone was Turkish.
On Monday, 57 injured persons were released from hospitals, while 24 remained, including two in critical condition.
Istiklal was less busy than normal on Monday, but there were still numerous pedestrians.
Metincan Alkan, 30, works at a pub near the blast. The attack will hurt local businesses, he claimed.
“People will avoid Beyoglu,” he remarked. “It’s awful in every way”
Mustafa Topcuoglu, 53, is known for his icli kofte — bulgar wheat pouches packed with spicy pork – which he sells on Istiklal Avenue.
He told Al Jazeera he heard the blast from his eatery but was back at work Monday.
“Terrorism’s objective is to scare people, cause panic, and keep them at home,” Topcuoglu stated. “Regardless, we arrived, worked, and reopened.”
Ahlam Albasir, a Syrian woman, was seized early Monday in an Istanbul suburb. Early evening, 46 persons were arrested in connection with the attack.
According to media sources, the Istanbul Police Department stated Albasir had admitted to having contacts to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and its Syrian branch, the People’s Defense Units (YPG) (YPG).
However, in statements on Monday, the PKK and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is primarily comprised of YPG members, disputed involvement for the attack.
The bomb brought back memories of PKK and ISIS strikes in Turkey from 2015 to 2017. ISIL-linked suicide bomber killed 4 on Istiklal Avenue in March 2016.
Soner Cagaptay, a Washington Institute senior scholar, told Al Jazeera that further unrest could affect June elections in Turkey.
“This is a worrisome development, and we’ll have to see who’s behind it,” he said.
“This onslaught, if followed by others, could sway the electorate to the right,” Cagaptay warned. This happened after Turkey’s 2015 terror attacks.
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