Couple strolling down Istiklal Avenue among victims of Istanbul terror attack

By Mehmet Yusuf Melikoglu and Mucahit Turetken

ISTANBUL (AA) – A couple who were killed in Sunday’s deadly terrorist attack in Istanbul was just strolling down crowded Istiklal Avenue when a bomb exploded in the iconic part of the city, a family member told Anadolu Agency.

Mustafa Topkara said his son Adem Topkara, 40, and daughter-in-law Mukaddes Elif Topkara, 37, were among the victims of the terrorist attack when they went for a walk after leaving their children, 7-month-old Yagiz and two-and-half-year old Eliz, with their aunt, who has a shop there.

“His aunt has a shop in Taksim. Then they wanted to go out for a walk. They left the children with their aunt and went out,” Topkara said in front of the family house in Istanbul’s Sariyer District on the European side where the couple also lived and a Turkish flag was hung in their memory.

“(It is) where words fail. We trust of state,” he added.

Six people, including a 9-year-old child, were killed in Sunday's bombing.

The Turkish government said Sunday's attack on crowded Istiklal Avenue was carried out by the PKK/YPG terrorist organization.

Turkish police arrested the perpetrator of the attack, Ahlam Albashir, a Syrian woman who planted the explosives, in a pre-dawn raid, while dozens of other suspects were detained.

The police said Albashir has confessed that she was trained by the YPG/PKK terror group as an intelligence operative and entered Türkiye illegally from Afrin, Syria.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US and the European Union – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children and infants. The YPG is the terror group’s Syrian offshoot.