TURKEY: TURKISH SECURITY COURT IMPRISONS TWO MEN CHARGED WITH SUSPECT LINKS TO RECENT TWIN ATTACKS ON BRITISH INTERESTS IN ISTANBUL

Record ID: 647604

  • Title: TURKEY: TURKISH SECURITY COURT IMPRISONS TWO MEN CHARGED WITH SUSPECT LINKS TO RECENT TWIN ATTACKS ON BRITISH INTERESTS IN ISTANBUL
  • Date: 7th November 2003
  • Summary: (U7) ISTANBUL, TURKEY (NOVEMBER 27, 2003) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SHOTS) 1. SUSPECTS LEAVING THE COURTROOM COVERING THEIR FACES WITH THEIR JACKETS (2 SHOTS) 0.15 2. SUSPECTS IN POLICE VAN LEAVING THE AREA (2 SHOTS) 0.35 3. SOUNDBITE, (Turkish) LAWYER ALPER BILICI SAYING: "The judge has imprisoned two of the suspects and released the other two until the hearings start, I think in two or three months the charge files will be ready and the hearings will start." 0.54 4. SCU: ARMED POLICE GUARD IN FRONT OF THE COURTROOM 0.59 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 22nd November 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ISTANBUL, TURKEY
  • Country: Turkey
  • Reuters ID: LVA64MRZBGYHGUJD5RXDV8UCWIJY
  • Story Text: A Turkish security court has imprisoned two men
    charged with suspected links to last week's twin attacks to
    British interests.


    A Turkish National Security Court interrogation
    judge has imprisoned two more suspects and released two
    others on Thursday (November 27) until the charges filed
    and the hearings start.

    Prosecutors charge suspects with possible links to last
    week's twin bomb attacks to British embassy and HSBC
    headquarters killing 30 people including British diplomats
    in Istanbul.

    Earlier on Thursday nine men were transferred to court
    from police. Turkish police stormed different locations and
    detained tens of people nationwide with suspected links to
    attackers and illegal extremist islamist organisations.

    The court has imprisoned 14 people out of 43 suspects
    detained by police since the attacks.

    There are also six more suspects in prison charged with
    possible links to the twin synagogue attacks the week
    before. Car bombs wre used in similiar styles in both twin
    attacks.

    Responsibility for all the attacks has been claimed by
    shadowy groups on behalf of al-Qaeda, which Washington
    accuses of masterminding the September 11, 2001 attacks on
    the United States. The statements from the groups claiming
    responsibility have however not been verified.

    Turkey's Justice Minister was quoted on Thursday as
    saying Chechens and Turks with links to the militant
    Islamic al-Qaeda network helped prepare the suicide
    bombings that resulted in dozens of people being killed in
    Istanbul this month.

    Minister Cemil Cicek said militants who carried out the
    November 20 attacks narrowly evaded capture after being
    informed of an imminent police raid.

    Ankara has said that all four bombings were carried out
    by Turkish nationals, but has been investigating al-Qaeda
    links.

    Many Turks trace their descent to the Caucasus, and
    Istanbul is home to a sizeable number of exiled Chechens
    who are widely regarded as fellow Muslims fighting foreign
    oppression in Russia. Russia has repeatedly criticised
    Turkey for tolerating what it regards as Chechen terrorists
    on its territory.

    Moscow says Chechen rebels are closely linked to an
    "arc of instability" of Islamic militants stretching from
    the Philippines to the Middle East though the guerrillas
    deny this.

    Experts say up to 4,000 Turkish radicals have fought in
    conflicts overseas, including Chechnya, Bosnia and
    Afghanistan, many training at al-Qaeda camps that existed
    in Afghanistan before a 2001 U.S. invasion of the country.

    Cicek said police came close to seizing two men
    readying to attack the consulate and the bank building last
    week. He did not say where the information had come from.

    Turkish authorities have lashed out at local media,
    accusing them of hampering the investigation by naming
    suspects connected with the synagogue bombing days after
    those attacks.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register