The terrorist attack in Ankara was, indeed, caused by a suicide bomber: 28-year-old Güven Akkuş, of Sivas. Akkuş “had spent two years in prison for hanging illegal posters for the Communist Workers Party, but he became affiliated with the PKK in prison.”

Governor of Ankara Kemal Önal said: “”The type of explosives and equipment employed is similar to those used by the separatist group.”

Today’s Zaman also has more information up about the victims. One of them: “Muzaffer Savaş, who died in Tuesday’s bombing in Ankara, was going to get married this week. Twenty-four-year old Savaş, at the time of bombing was looking for a tuxedo for himself. His friends and relatives, who recently received his wedding invitation, were shocked by the news of his death.”

Turkish Daily News adds that “Turkish Police captured two people yesterday, a day after a powerful bomb killed six in Ankara. In the raid that took place in the Southern city of Adana the police seized 11.3 kilograms of A-4 explosives, a detonation device and two hand-grenades.” The woman has been identified by Adana Governor İlhan Atış as a “suicide bomber.”

As a result of the bombing and of the arrests, “Turkey’s top anti-terror board convened yesterday under the leadership of Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül early in the morning to review possible measures to prevent new attacks. The Turkish Daily News learned that the police and gendarmerie units will tighten security measures in the cities, airports, bus terminals, metro and train stations. The National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and the police will conduct detailed investigations to find out the organizers of this attack.”

Meanwhile, Amnesty International, with seemingly too much time on its hands, compared “the ban imposed on women in Turkey and France for wearing headscarves in public places to the obligations imposed on women in Iran and Saudi Arabia for putting on a veil.” Amnesty:

The state has the obligation to safeguard a woman’s freedom of choice, not restrict it. To take an example, the veil and headscarf of Muslim women have become a bone of contention between different cultures, the visible symbol of oppression according to one side, and an essential attribute of religious freedom according to the other. It is wrong for women in Saudi Arabia or Iran to be compelled to put on the veil. It is equally wrong for women or girls in Turkey or France to be forbidden by law to wear the headscarf. And it is foolish of Western leaders to claim that a piece of clothing is a major barrier to social harmony,” Kahn said in strongly worded remarks.

It’s called laicism. Is AI now saying that laicism is in breach with human rights? It has nothing to do with choice in these women’s private lives, it’s about what they are allowed to wear in public buildings. Besides, Amnesty’s approach might work very well in a situation in which the headscarf is not used, and even a sign of, the oppression of women, but sadly reality shows that it is the family of the woman who demands of her to wear a headscarf.

The headscarf is, among other things, a sign that one considers women to be less than men. I thought that AI would encourage equality instead of oppression.

A Kurdish singer, Zulfu Kizildemir aka Xemgin Birhat, might face five years in prison for “performing a song that praises imprisoned Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan.” Ocalan is, of course, the leader of the PKK. Ocalan is, of course, quite simply a terrorist. His men have killed tens of thousands of Turks. As TDN points out, “Kurds are not recognized as an official minority in Turkey and are denied rights granted to other minority groups,” but that’s not an excuse for terrorism.

Lastly, Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan slammed the opposition in a speech yesterday. He said that “the existence of sound and active political opposition was crucial to the preservation of democracy in any country and said that being in opposition was not tantamount to trampling underfoot the lines of legitimacy, casting a shadow over democracy or ignoring universal values.”

He also “harshly criticized President Ahmet Necdet Sezer for abusing the legal period of 15-days granted to make a decision on a draft send from Parliament. Erdoğan said the president, who is supposed to either veto or ratify a new law enabling the president to be elected by a referendum, was purposefully trying to delay the Parliament’s willingness to refer the presidential elections to the people.”

The anti-AKP rally in Izmir was a success:

Hundreds of thousands of pro-secular Turks gathered in the third largest city of Turkey Sunday to protest against the Islamist-rooted government that they fear is working to raise the influence of religion on society and pressure the secularist center-left parties unite ahead of parliamentary elections set for July 22.

Organizers of the pro-secular rally estimated the participating crowd at around two million. This was the first ever rally which was staged simultaneously both on land and sea as scores of small ferry boats and fishermen boats packed with demonstrators joined the rally from the sea.

Izmir is a port city on the Aegean coast that is a bastion of secularism, and Islamic parties fare poorly there. According to eyewitness accounts the demonstration was the biggest ever held in the port city of Izmir since the 1977 campaign rally in the city by late Bülent Ecevit, who was then heading the Republican People’s Party (CHP). The CHP had won the 1977 parliamentary elections with a 43 percent landslide…

“Turkey is secular and will remain secular,” protesters chanted. “No to sharia (Islamic law).”

The CHP and other opposition parties hope to use the protests to build momentum for the parliamentary elections (July 22). At this moment, the AK Party is, sadly, doing quite well in the polls: more than 40% of Turkish voters say that they support Erdogan’s party.

Two million people, quite amazing.

The New York Times has an article up about today’s protest in Izmir as well.

More from Turkey:

Top court ruled the first round of presidential elections invalid on Tuesday, raising the possibility of early national elections. The government said another round of presidential polls would be held in parliament on Wednesday.

The Constitutional Court upheld an appeal from the secularist opposition that wants to stop the ruling Islamist-rooted AK Party’s candidate, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül, becoming head of state. A decision was taken to stop the process, Haşim Kılıç, deputy head of the top court, told a news conference.

The Constitutional Court ruled 367 members of parliament had to be present during voting for it to be valid. A total of 361 deputies voted in last Friday’s ballot, 357 of them for Gül, the sole candidate. The court ruling was binding.

All this stress is not good for Turkey’s economy:

Turkish financial markets recorded their biggest falls in a year on Monday and the currency lost more ground on Tuesday. The lira recovered some ground on the news late in trade.

Economy Minister Ali Babacan said the economy was ready for early elections, a comment seen as an attempt to calm markets.

An important victory for Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s party (CHP) nonetheless. The CHP will use the same tactic time and time again until general elections will be necessary. General elections might result in quite a different Parliament: if the CHP wins (overwhelmingly) Gül will definitely not become Turkey’s next President.

Will it work? Who knows, but it beats a military coup.

We will see what happens now. To say that it are exciting times for Turkey would be quite an understatement.