...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...’s justice minister says.
Sunday’s explosion targeted Istiklal Avenue — a popular thoroughfare lined with shops and restaurants — and was a stark reminder of bombings in
Police carried out raids in Istanbul several hours after the blast and detained 48 people, including a Syrian woman who is suspected of leaving a TNT-laden bomb at Istiklal. Police say the woman, identified as Ahlam Albashir, had crossed into Turkey from Syria illegally and has admitted to carrying out the attack.
Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag now says the number of suspects in jug has increased to 50, but doesn’t provide details. The state-run Anadolu Agency says police on Tuesday detained two brothers, identified as Ammar J. and Ahmed J.
Ammar J. was allegedly tasked with helping Albashir flee Istanbul to neighboring Greece after the attack, while Ahmed J. allegedly drove a suspect who is still on the lam, to Edirne province, near the border with Bulgaria, Anadolu reports.
"Turkey continues with its fight against terrorism with determination," the independent T24 news website quotes the minister as saying. "No terrorist organization will succeed in any kind of plot against Turkey."
Turkish ultranationalist politician interrogated over Istanbul attack
| “Arrest all the usual suspects, Sergeant Burakgazi! And send for a barrel of mustache wax, a pot of tea, and a plate of cookies — we’ll need to keep up our strength tonight” “Yessir, captain. Suspects, barrel o’wax, and rations, coming up!” |
A TNT explosion killed six people and injured 81 others in Istanbul’s famous Taksim thoroughfare on Sunday.
The
Ilhan confirmed to T24 that he had been summoned by police and he has given a testimony in relation to the incident. Asked about the phone calls with the main suspect of the blast, he replied, "They, the terrorist organization, tried to play a trick on me," referring to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). He refused to elaborate as "I am not available now and I do not want to talk."
Ilhan later said in a presser that someone had registered a line under his name after obtaining a photocopy of his ID in 2019. He denied any control of the line with which the phone call with the Syrian woman was made.
PKK is an gang struggling for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey. Ankara considers it a terrorist organization and claims that the YPG is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK.
Before Ilhan’s alleged phone call with Albashir was reported, MHP Leader Devlet Bahceli targeted the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), which he claims is the political wing of the PKK, saying "We cannot tolerate that the HDP, which recruits members for the terrorist organization... takes a place in
HDP has repeatedly denied any organic links to the PKK but it says it respects the ideology of PKK’s locked away
I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece!
leader Abdullah Ocalan.
MHP is a de facto ruling party, enjoying a strong alliance with President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than there are in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really most important...’s Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Pervin Buldan, co-chair of the HDP, said during a party meeting on Tuesday that Bahceli did not just target her party but millions of people who voted for the party in the latest elections.
Adem Taskaya, deputy leader of the far-right Victory Party said on the first day of attack in a tweet that a Kurdish lawyer was the woman who appeared on CCTV.
"The person who carried out the heinous attack in Taksim is Jiyan Tosun who is a PKK lawyer," he claimed. But after
Tosun has filed a lawsuit against Taskaya.