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ISTANBUL: US terror report: Turkey used for transit by radical group

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  • ISTANBUL: US terror report: Turkey used for transit by radical group

    Today's Zaman, Turkey
    May 1 2014

    US terror report: Turkey used for transit by radical groups in Syria


    Rebel fighters walk along a street in the Armenian Christian town of
    Kasab March 31, 2014. (Photo: Reuters)

    May 01, 2014, Thursday/ 18:10:48/ TODAYSZAMAN .COM/ WASHINGTON

    The US State Department has said in its annual global terrorism report
    that Turkey was often used as a transit country in 2013 for foreign
    fighters seeking to join al-Qaeda and its affiliates in Syria.

    Released in Washington on Wednesday, `Country Reports on Terrorism
    2013,' said: `Largely because of the ongoing conflict in Syria, Turkey
    has voiced increasing concern about terrorist groups currently near
    its border. These groups include al-Qa'ida in Iraq/Islamic State of
    Iraq and the Levant [ISIL] and al-Nusrah Front. Turkey was often used
    as a transit country for foreign fighters wishing to join these and
    other groups in Syria.'

    The report said that terrorist violence in 2013 was fueled by
    sectarian motivations, marking a worrisome trend, in particular in
    Syria, Lebanon and Pakistan, where victims of violence were primarily
    among civilian populations. Thousands of extremist fighters entered
    Syria during the year. Among them, a large percentage were reportedly
    motivated by a sectarian view of the conflict and a desire to protect
    the Sunni Muslim community from the Alawite-dominated regime of Syrian
    President Bashar al-Assad regime.

    The State Department report underlined that the key terrorism trend in
    2013 developed in Syria, which continues to be a major battleground
    for terrorism on both sides of the conflict and remains a key area of
    longer-term concern. It said thousands of foreign fighters traveled to
    Syria to join the fight against the Assad regime -- with some joining
    violent extremist groups -- while Iran, Hezbollah and other Shiite
    militias provided a broad range of critical support to the regime.

    The report added that some of the thousands of fighters from around
    the world who are traveling to Syria to do battle against the Assad
    regime -- particularly from the Middle East, North Africa, Central
    Asia and Eastern and Western Europe -- are joining violent extremist
    groups, including the al-Nusra Front and ISIL. A number of key partner
    governments are becoming increasingly concerned that individuals with
    violent extremist ties and battlefield experience will return to their
    home countries or elsewhere to commit acts of terrorism, it said,
    adding that the scale of this problem has raised concerns about the
    creation of a new generation of globally committed terrorists, similar
    to what resulted from the influx of violent extremists to Afghanistan
    in the 1980s.

    A major challenge to Europe, the report highlighted, was the
    increasing travel of European citizens -- mostly young men -- to and
    from Syria seeking to join forces opposing the Assad regime. The
    report argued that these `foreign fighters' sparked increasing
    concerns, and actions to address them, by European countries worried
    about the growing number of their citizens traveling to battlefields
    and possibly returning radicalized.

    In 2013, the report said, Turkey continued to face significant
    internal terrorist threats and has taken strong action in response.
    Increased activity by the Revolutionary People's Liberation
    Party/Front (DHKP/C), a terrorist Marxist-Leninist group with anti-US
    and anti-NATO views that seeks the violent overthrow of the Turkish
    state, threatened the security of both US and Turkish interests. A
    number of attacks occurred, including a suicide bombing of the US
    Embassy in February 2013 that killed the bomber and a Turkish guard
    and injured a visiting Turkish journalist.

    In its annual global terrorism report the State Department describes
    as prominent among terrorist groups in Turkey the Kurdistan Workers'
    Party (PKK). According to the report, the PKK has spoken more often
    about autonomy within a Turkish state that guarantees Kurdish cultural
    and linguistic rights. Following three decades of conflict with the
    PKK terrorist organization, the government and PKK leader Abdullah
    Ã-calan began talks in late 2012 for a peace process. The PKK called
    for a cease-fire in March, which both sides largely observed, apart
    from small-scale PKK attacks in late 2013.

    The report pointed out that approximately 20 terrorist attacks
    occurred in Turkey in 2013. It said the ones that garnered the most
    attention were: Feb. 1, a DHKP/C suicide attack against the US Embassy
    in Ankara; Feb. 11, a car bomb at the Bab al-Hawa border crossing
    between Turkey and Syria that killed 13 people; March 19, a
    DHKP/C-coordinated hand grenade attacks on the Ministry of Justice and
    on the headquarters of the ruling party; May 11, a twin car bombings
    in Reyhanlı that killed at least 53 people -- the deadliest terrorist
    attack in Turkey's modern history -- and Sept. 20, a DHKP/C attack at
    the National Police Department headquarters and police guesthouse with
    light anti-tank weapons (LAWs).

    According to the report, the State Department continued to provide
    counterterrorism assistance to the Turkish national police that
    focused on institutionalizing advanced skills into Turkey's law
    enforcement infrastructure and included training in terrorist
    interdiction and crisis management. It said Turkey increased its
    cooperation with European countries regarding the status of members of
    the DHKP/C and also worked closely with European, North African and
    Middle Eastern countries to prohibit the travel of potential foreign
    fighters planning to pass through Turkey to Syria, although it remains
    a transit route for these fighters.

    http://www.todayszaman.com/news-346593-us-terror-report-turkey-used-for-transit-by-radical-groups-in-syria.html

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