 A 'red bulletin' has been issued by Interpol on the request of Turkey for a man believed to be in Germany who is wanted in connection to an arson attack by Islamic extremists in 1993 that killed 37 people, reports said Friday. Police spokesman Ramazan Er was cited as saying that the bulletin had been issued for the arrest of Muhammed Nuh Kilic, 32, who has been on the run since a court sentenced him to seven-and-a-half years imprisonment for his role in the arson attack on the Madimak Hotel in the central Anatolian town of Sivas. Hurriyet newspaper last week tracked Kilic down to the German city of Mannheim where he works in a döner kebab restaurant, having received a residence permit. Kilic told Hurriyet he fled Turkey because he believed his sentence was too long. | "Dude. They want me to stay in jug for seven years. No way, man. I'm outta here." |
The July 1993 arson attack occurred when a Sunni local preacher whipped his congregation into a frenzy over a cultural festival being held in Sivas by members of the Alawite community. Kilic told Hurriyet that what particularly angered the congregation was that the writer Aziz Nesin was at the festival and that he had announced he was to translate Salman Rushdie's 'The Satanic Verses', a book which was accused of denigrating Islam. | None of this is new to Rantburg readers, but the ugliness of it all still makes me wince. |
The 'red bulletin' is the most urgent international bulletin issued by Interpol in seeking a person deemed to be dangerous and wanted to serve a prison sentence or to be questioned in connection with a crime. Interpol also issues a 'green' and a 'blue' bulletin in seeking out suspects or witnesses not deemed to be dangerous. | A quick look at the Interpol home page shows them patting themselves on the back for capturing (or facilitating the capture of) a Bosnian war criminal who was first 'red-carded' in 2001. The second item is a meaningless press release about a '10-years of service' award from a South African Police Chiefs organization. So here's my question: Does Interpol actually *do* anything? |
|