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Germany shuts embassy, consulate and schools in Turkey on 'very concrete' tip-off
[DeutscheWelle] Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the threat to German institutions in Turkey was being taken very seriously. The embassy in Ankara has been shut, along with the Istanbul consulate and two German schools.Germany's foreign ministry issued a statement advising caution in Ankara, Istanbul and other major Turkish cities. Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier went into further detail on Thursday morning in Berlin. "Yesterday evening, some very concrete indications - to be taken very seriously - reached our security services, saying that terror attacks against German institutions within ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... were being prepared," Steinmeier said. Steinmeier also said that he had ordered German institutions in Turkey to close their doors, "because protecting German citizens and the people working and learning in these establishments must now take precedence." Steinmeier: Security being bolstered The German embassy in Ankara, consulate in Istanbul, and two German schools - one in each city - were shut as a result, Steinmeier said, adding that he had reached the decision overnight. Steinmeier said that security precautions at the institutions were being bolstered, while the foreign ministry would convene on Thursday for a crisis meeting on the security situation in Turkey. DW's correspondent Tom Stevenson in Istanbul went to the consulate soon after the warning: "Just arrived. Nothing unusual here: two armed police as always (today they are out of their car though). The security booth round the back is actually empty," Stevenson reported in an email to DW on arrival. Shortly thereafter, however, at around 11:50 a.m. local time (0950 UTC/GMT), Stevenson noted that three buses full of Turkish police arrived on the scene. Prestigious schools, central consulate The consulate said in an email to German citizens that both facilities - the consulate and the nearby school, Deutsche Schule Istanbul - would stay shut as a precaution. This followed what it described as a "warning that could not be conclusively verified." It also urged German citizens to stay away from the area. The German consulate in Istanbul is located in the vicinity of Taksim Square with the school a mile away in the Istiklal Caddesi pedestrian area. It's considered one of Turkey's most prestigious high schools.
The move comes days after 37 people were killed in a boom-mobile blast in the capital, Ankara. The Kurdish terror group TAK grabbed credit on Thursday. The German embassy in Ankara had issued a warning on Tuesday of this week. Posted by: trailing wife 2016-03-18 |
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