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| Europe |
| Turkey Police Question Suspects |
| 2003-12-02 |
| A few additional details from al-Jaz. EFL: Turkey said yesterday the suicide bombers responsible for last monthâs carnage in Istanbul were linked to the Al-Qaeda network as police questioned a key suspect and 21 other Turks handed over by Syria. âAccording to current information, those who were involved in the incidents as suicide bombers and people who are related to them are seen as close to Al-Qaeda,â Deputy Prime Minister Abdullatif Sener told reporters. Some of those detained are believed to have links with Azad Ekinci, who investigators suspect was a key planner of the November bombings. Ekinci has reportedly escaped Turkey and was not among the 22 expelled by Syria. Iâll bet he went back to Iran. NTV television published a list of the names of those detained, saying they would probably soon be transferred to Istanbul for further questioning. The majority of the suspects had been receiving a religious education in Syria, NTV said. Humm, couldnât get a scholarship to a good Pakistan school? âSerious and disciplined work by our security forces brought results,â Sener told reporters. But he declined to give any details of the Syria operation. "I can say no more." Press reports have said the bombers and their accomplices belonged to Al-Qaeda cells in Turkey, while officials have said they might have acted as âsub-contractorsâ for Osama Bin Ladenâs network. Local franchise operators. Investigators in the border province of Hatay questioned a man believed to be key to the attacks, his wife and 20 other Turks who were rounded up in Syria and extradited to Turkey on Sunday as part of the expanding investigation. Hatay Governor Abdulkadir Sari said the 20 suspects apprehended along with the Tugluoglu couple were âTurkish nationals attending religious schools in Syria, some of whom are under 18,â the Anatolia news agency reported. Syrian madrassas? Thatâs a new one to me. Hurriyet newspaper said Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul had personally pressed Damascus to hand over the suspects in an appeal that recalled Ankaraâs bid to have Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan expelled from Syria in 1998. But in 1998 Damascus acted only after Turkey threatened war. This time, analysts said, Syria and Turkey worked closely together, building on a thaw that began with Ocalanâs expulsion. Guess Syria remembers that threat. |
| Posted by:Steve |