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ISTANBUL: Turkish diplomat says Reyhanlı attack carried out by al-Q

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  • ISTANBUL: Turkish diplomat says Reyhanlı attack carried out by al-Q

    Today's Zaman
    April 6 2014

    Turkish diplomat says Reyhanlı attack carried out by al-Qaeda

    6 April 2014, Sunday /Ä°STANBUL, TODAYSZAMAN.COM


    In a stunning revelation, a Turkish diplomat has for the first time
    admitted that the bloody Reyhanlı attack, which ravaged the border
    town of Reyhanlı on May 11, 2013, leaving 53 people dead and scores
    wounded, was carried out by Syrian elements of al-Qaeda, not by
    groups, as is widely believed in Turkey, affiliated with the Bashar
    al-Assad regime.

    The remarks came at a meeting of the Permanent Council of the
    Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on March
    27. In response to a comment by an Armenian diplomat, Turkey's OSCE
    representative, Tacan Ä°ldem, said that al-Qaeda elements operating
    from Syria carried out the attack, abandoning the long-standing
    Turkish line that Damascus was responsible for the atrocity in the
    border town.

    Ä°ldem spoke on the issue when the Armenian diplomat called on Turkey
    to take effective measures against radical groups using the Turkish
    border as a conduit to stage attacks against Christians, especially
    Armenians in the town of Kessab, the site of bitter fighting between
    regime troops and opposition forces.

    Denying allegations that Turkey gives the go-ahead to radical groups
    coming through its border, Ä°ldem deemed the claims nonsensical, saying
    that Turkey also faces security threats from radical elements. An
    attack on security forces in the central Anatolian province of NiÄ?de,
    the Turkish diplomat said, had been carried out by radical elements,
    leaving three dead -- a police officer, a gendarme and a civilian
    passerby.

    Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an publicly accused Syria's Assad of
    using terrorist tactics to foment unrest and disorder in neighboring
    countries that support the Syrian opposition and provide relief to
    refugees.

    In a September 2012 statement threatening the Turkish government with
    a series of `suicide attacks' and bombings in Ä°stanbul and Ankara, the
    al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed
    responsibility for the twin car bombings in the town of Reyhanlı.

    This statement, however, met with skepticism and denial from Turkish
    officials. Then-Interior Minister Muammer Güler denied allegations
    that the perpetrators of the May attack in Reyhanlı were members of
    al-Qaeda, saying that the real culprits of the deadly explosion are
    known and under arrest.

    The attack highlighted the risk emanating from the prolonged Syrian
    conflict for neighboring countries, which are struggling to
    accommodate floods of Syrian refugees. In addition to the unfolding
    humanitarian tragedy and the refugee issue, neighboring countries face
    risks of getting dragged into the conflict against their wishes and
    plans, with border-crossing opposition elements and brief Syrian
    incursions inviting military responses, as was the case when the
    Turkish and Syrian armies exchanged fire several times last year.

    The Reyhanlı attack prompted Turkey to revisit its security strategies
    and policies along the 911-kilometer-long border, beefing up its
    military presence to establish firm control in the area.

    Turkey currently hosts around 900,000 Syrian refugees. Among them,
    80,000 are reportedly housed in Reyhanlı.

    http://www.todayszaman.com/news-343949-turkish-diplomat-says-reyhanli-attack-carried-out-by-al-qaeda.html

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