ISRAEL: Israel's military intelligence chief presents map showing three al Qaeda bases in Turkey

Record ID: 397996

  • Title: ISRAEL: Israel's military intelligence chief presents map showing three al Qaeda bases in Turkey
  • Date: 29th January 2014
  • Summary: TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (JANUARY 29, 2014) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Hebrew) MAJOR-GENERAL AVIV KOCHAVI, ISRAEL'S MILITARY INTELLIGENCE CHIEF, SAYING: "This illustration that you see show more than anything that Syria is projecting its conflict to the whole region. Those blotches (on the map) in Turkey are no mistake by the graphic artist and it is a short way from there into Europ
  • Embargoed: 13th February 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA44B9BN1LFMEYV0P9YV68I60OV
  • Story Text: Some of the al Qaeda militants going to fight in Syria have bases in neighbouring Turkey and can easily access Europe from the NATO member state, Israel's military intelligence chief said on Wednesday (January 29).
    Major-General Aviv Kochavi, presenting a map of the Middle East marked with areas of al Qaeda presence, told a security conference al Qaeda fighters from around the world entered Syria weekly, "but they do not stay" there.

    "Especially Syria has become a centre of attraction for those activists from all around the world from Eastern Europe, Western Europe, central Asia, the Maghreb, Yemen, Australia and even from the American continent. They arrive every week but they do not stay in Syria," Kochavi said.
    The map showed three al Qaeda bases inside Turkey.
    A spokesman for the Turkish Foreign Ministry had no immediate comment, but Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly denied Turkey is providing shelter or backing to al Qaeda-linked groups in Syria.
    Kochavi declined a request by Reuters to give specific numbers, but his spokeswoman said the map showed the relative strength and location of al Qaeda bases, which appeared to be in the Karaman, Osmaniye and Sanliurfa provinces.

    "This illustration that you see show more than anything that Syria is projecting its conflict to the whole region. Those blotches (on the map) in Turkey are no mistake by the graphic artist and it is a short way from there into Europe," Kochavi said at the conference held by the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.
    The spots on the map signifying al Qaeda in Turkey were together about half the size of the blotch in the Egyptian Sinai peninsula, which Kochavi said was home to about 200 Jihadi militants.
    Turkish anti-terrorist police raided the offices of an aid agency on the border with Syria this month, as part of what Turkish media said was an operation in six cities against individuals suspected of links to al Qaeda.
    Turkey has maintained an open-door policy throughout the Syrian conflict, providing a lifeline to rebel-held areas by allowing humanitarian aid in, giving refugees a route out and letting the rebel Free Syrian Army organise on its soil.
    But the rise of al Qaeda-linked groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in parts of northern Syria near the border has left Ankara open to accusations it is lending support to radical Islamists.
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