ISTANBUL — A Syrian suicide bomber set off an explosion in the historic central district of Istanbul on Tuesday, killing 10 people and wounding at least 15 others, in an attack that the Turkish government attributed to the Islamic State.
All of the dead were foreign citizens; nine were German.
The blast occurred at around 10:15 a.m. in the heart of Sultanahmet, one of the most heavily trafficked districts in the historic city, steps from monuments commemorating the three empires — Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman — of which the former Constantinople, now Istanbul, was the capital.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called for international support in the fight against terrorism.
"We will never compromise, not a single inch, in our firm stance against terror," Davutoglu said in an afternoon news conference from the Turkish capital, Ankara, citing the global outcry that followed the Paris terrorist attacks of Nov. 13, which were also orchestrated by the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. "We should display the same solidarity, stand side by side, shoulder to shoulder, in the aftermath of the Istanbul attacks as well."
Germans accounted for 5.4 million visits to Turkey last year — or about 1 in 6 of all visits by foreigners. The attack was a devastating blow for a tourism industry that had already been unsettled by a series of terrorist attacks in Turkey. It also added a new dimension to the complicated relationship between Germany and Turkey. As a leading voice in Europe and the primary destination for Syrian migrants crossing through Turkey into the EU, Germany has lobbied Turkey to help stem the flow.
As news emerged that most of the victims were German tourists, Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned the violence. "Today, Istanbul was hit; Paris has been hit, Tunisia has been hit, Ankara has been hit before," she said. "Once again, international terrorism is showing its cruel and inhuman face today."
A deputy prime minister of Turkey, Numan Kurtulmus, said the bomber was a man born in 1988 who crossed into Turkey from Syria fairly recently and was not on the government's watchlist of suspected terrorists. Kurtulmus did not provide additional details of the investigation.
The Dogan News Agency reported that six Germans, one Norwegian and a Peruvian were among the wounded.
"I was in the basement checking the stocks when I heard a huge bang, and the whole building shook," said Fehmi Ozyurt, a local leather vendor. "We all ran out and could see bodies on the floor, but we were too scared to get close in case there was another explosion. We've been through this before in Sultanahmet, so we expect the worst — that it's a suicide bomber again."
Last January, a Russian citizen with possible ties to the Islamic State blew herself up at a police station in the Sultanahmet area, killing an officer.
More than three hours after Tuesday's explosion, a group of waiters stood in shock outside a nearby meatball restaurant.
"I don't know what to say — I guess we were expecting this, but not an explosion this big," said one of the workers, who gave his name only as Ibrahim, his eyes fixed on the Blue Mosque, a renowned early 17th-century landmark.
On a usual day, the restaurant would be bustling with customers, with lines forming outside. But after the explosion Tuesday, there was barely a visitor in sight.
"Tourism had already dried up after last year's explosion, but after this it's game over," said Ayse Demir, 36, a shopkeeper at a local arts and crafts shop. "No one is going to risk their lives for shopping and history."
By Tuesday afternoon, most of Sultanahmet's historic square had been cordoned off as the police investigated. Helicopters hovered and the public was asked to leave the area.
Some police officers blocked journalists from entering the square and asked them to refrain from taking photographs and video because of a nationwide broadcast ban.
Sultanahmet is home to some of Istanbul's most visited monuments, including a Byzantine-era former hippodrome, or racetrack; the Hagia Sophia, a sixth-century Greek Orthodox basilica and now a museum; the Blue Mosque; and the Topkapi Palace, built by the Ottoman sultans.
The explosion was detonated close to the German Fountain, a gazebo-style structure that commemorates a visit by Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1898. The blast left several bodies around the base of an Egyptian obelisk that was carved around 1490 B.C. and was brought to the city in A.D. 390 by the Roman emperor Theodosius. It was from the Topkapi Palace that the Ottomans, for four centuries, oversaw an empire that, at its height in the late 17th century, spanned not only the Middle East and North Africa, but also southeastern Europe and the Balkans.
After a briefing from Efkan Ala, Turkey's interior minister, Davutoglu called an emergency meeting of ministers in Ankara to discuss the situation. Not long after, Erdogan made a televised address that blamed the attack on a Syrian suicide bomber and included an extended critique of foreign scholars and writers, including Noam Chomsky, who have criticized his government as being increasingly authoritarian.
"Pick a side," Erdogan said. "You are either on the side of the Turkish government, or you're on the side of the terrorists."
After the attack on Tuesday, the German Foreign Office issued a statement warning tourists to stay away from public spaces. "Travelers in Istanbul are urgently advised to temporarily avoid crowds, even on public squares and outside tourist attractions," the statement said. "One has to continue to expect political tensions, violent confrontations and terrorist attacks across the country."
The German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, called the attack a "barbaric, cowardly act of terrorism" and added, "We stand firmly on the side of Turkey at this time."
The explosion in Sultanahmet was the latest in a string of terrorist attacks in Turkey. The Islamic State, which controls a significant portion of territory in neighboring Syria, has been targeting Turkey, where violence has surged since a cease-fire broke down in a decades-long fight between the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, and the Turkish government.
In June, two people were killed at a rally in the predominantly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, in southeastern Turkey.
In July, a 20-year-old suicide bomber with ties to the Islamic State killed more than 30 people at a cultural center in the town of Suruc, also in southeastern Turkey, near the border with Syria.
And in October, suicide bombers hit a lunchtime peace rally in Ankara, killing about 100 people. No one has claimed responsibility for that attack.
Esra Ozyurek, a political anthropologist at the London School of Economics, said that Tuesday's attack did not immediately appear to resemble those three. Many analysts have attributed those attacks to the Islamic State, saying the terrorist network was trying to touch off a civil war in Turkey.
"This bombing is different from the bombings in Diyarbakir, Suruc and Ankara, where Islamic State-affiliated bombers targeted groups of pro-Kurdish or pro-peace citizens who are in opposition to the government," Ozyurek said. "In this one, the target is unclear."
She added: "This explosion will at the least deeply affect the tourism industry, which was already hurting."
Patrick Boehler contributed reporting from Hong Kong, Sewell Chan from London and Victor Homola from Berlin.