Turkey's pro-Kurdish party condemns Istanbul attack

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan) - Turkey's pro-Kurdish opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) condemned the new year attack on an Istanbul nightclub on the Bosphorus that killed at least 39 people and wounded 69 others.

In a Sunday press release on its website, the HDP criticized the Presidency of Religious Affairs, Diyanet, which acts under Prime Ministry for a sermon it issued just two days before the attack.

In the mentioned sermon, Diyanet claimed that according to Islam celebrating the new year was illegitimate.

HDP said they were concerned by "irresponsible politicians and the Diyanet sermon that defined new year celebrations as 'illegitimate and going against our values'," referring to the institution that serves only Sunni Muslims in the country.

The Diyanet has condemned the attack, its head Mehmet Gormez saying there was "no difference between an atrocity in a bazaar, place of worship or that of entertainment."

The party also said some political leanings in Turkey that refused to recognize the rights and existence of different walks of life from various faiths, cultures and identities were "dragging the country into a whirlpool of violence."

Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) too condemned the attack.

PKK's commander-in-chief Murat Karayilan told a radio close to his group that no "Kurdistani or Kurdish force could have anything to do with this attack."

A PKK offshoot, Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), have previously conducted attacks against Turkish police and gendarmerie that saw scores dead, including civilians.

The attack carried the hallmarks of the Islamic State (IS) which Turkey started fighting in August 2014 in northern Syria, though no group has claimed responsibility yet.

A survivor told Reuters news agency that she heard "a guy screaming Allahu Akbar," Arabic words for 'God is the greatest.'

Apart from Turkish nationals, 15 foreigners were among the victims, including Israelis, Saudis, Moroccan, Lebanese, Libyan, Belgian, French, and Iraqis.

A Kurdistan24 reporter in Istanbul said three young men from the Kurdistan Region were among the casualties, one of them dead.

Editing by Ava Homa

(Ercan Dag contributed to this report in Istanbul.)