President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan released a statement on 11 December 2016 at around 01:30 local time, officially confirming deaths for the first time but not specifying a number. He also added that the aim of the attack was to maximize the death toll. In his statement, Erdoğan wrote that the organization that perpetrated the attack was not important as "all terrorist organizations, including PKK, DAESH or FETÖ strike Turkey with the same goals". He also criticized unspecified Western countries by accusing them of "supporting terror".
