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PKK flags at a demonstration in the northern Syrian city of Qamishli
Photo: DELIL SOULEIMAN / AFP
The banned Kurdish Workers' Party PKK has denied being involved in the Istanbul bomb blast.
"Our people and the democratic public know very well that we have nothing to do with this incident, that we do not target civilians directly and that we do not accept actions aimed at civilians," said a statement issued by the PKK -affiliated Firat news agency was released on Monday.
The explosion in a busy shopping street killed six people and injured more than 80 people on Sunday.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke of a "sneaky attack".
Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu blamed the PKK and its Syrian offshoot YPG for the explosion.
The Turkish authorities have already presented a woman as the main suspect.
According to the police, she is said to have come from Syria and said she had received her "order" from the YPG.
PKK also on terror lists in Europe and the USA
The PKK is on terrorist lists in Turkey, Europe and the US, and has positions in south-eastern Turkey and northern Iraq.
Their headquarters are in the northern Iraqi Kandil Mountains.
Ankara regularly takes action against the PKK and has maintained military posts in northern Iraq since 2016.
In the past, the Bundestag's research service had doubted whether the Turkish military's operations against the PKK abroad were compatible with international law.
The conflict, which has been going on since 1984, has so far claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people.
A ceasefire failed in the summer of 2015.
Turkey does not only classify the PKK, but also the YPG as a terrorist organization.
The US, on the other hand, is working with the YPG in Syria.
Soylu therefore rejected the US government's condolences on Monday.
Washington supports "terrorist organizations" in northern Syria, he said.
Elections are coming up in Turkey next year.
Because of his erratic economic policy, Erdoğan has lost popular support.
Polls predict a close race.
slu/AFP