ISTANBUL, 26 November 2003 — Nine people were charged by a state security court yesterday over the massive bomb attacks on British targets in Istanbul as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed terror would not be allowed to flourish on Turkish soil.
The nine were charged with membership of and aiding and abetting an illegal organization after hours of interrogation by the court, while another three suspects were released, Turkish media reports said.
At least 28 people were killed and 450 more injured when suicide bombers drove explosives-laden trucks into the British Consulate and the Turkish headquarters of London-based HSBC bank in the old city of Istanbul on Thursday. Five days earlier, similar bombings wrecked two synagogues on the European shores of Istanbul, killing 25 and wounding 300.
The body of British Consul General Roger Short, among at least three Britons killed in the consulate bombing, is to be flown back to England tomorrow, undertakers said.
The four attacks have been claimed by Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda group and a small Turkish group called the Islamic Great Eastern Raiders Front (IBDA-C), and Turkey remains on high security alert amid warnings of more terror strikes.
Five people were charged last week with “attempting to overthrow the constitutional order” over the synagogue bombings and a sixth was charged with aiding an illegal organization.
Erdogan has said the bombers were Turkish nationals with international links, although he was not certain that the bombings were the work of Al-Qaeda.
“God willing, terrorism will not be able to grow on the soil that has been the cradle of many civilizations,” he said after prayers for the Eid Al-Fitr festival, known here as Bayram, marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
“We should respond to terror by celebrating this holiday in a spirit of brotherhood,” he said. Erdogan reiterated that security forces were doing everything to find those responsible for the worst peacetime attacks in Turkey’s modern history.
“Let’s hope there will not be a chain of attacks, that it is over now,” said Erdogan, head of an Islamist-rooted government who again insisted terrorism could not be tied to Islam or any other religion.
Some observers have suggested that Turkey was targeted by Islamic fundamentalists because it is a pro-Western Muslim democracy and a NATO member closely allied to the United States and Israel.
In mosques across the nation, preachers obeyed a government directive to condemn “terrorism” and pray for national unity during Eid. Istanbul Governor Muammer Guler said Monday that police had identified the consulate bomber, although Turkish officials have accused the media of impeding their investigation by naming the suspected bombers.
In other developments, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer made a four-hour solidarity visit to Ankara on Monday, calling on Turkey to speed up democracy reforms but pledging support for its bid to join the EU and to help in the fight against terror.
“The government must put all its energy into reforms. Germany will, with all our determination, do what we can to help Turkey in its ambitions,” he said at a press conference with Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul.
Turkey has been an EU candidate since 1999 but has yet to secure a date to open accession talks, with Brussels demanding more progress on key reforms, notably involving human rights and treatment of its ethnic Kurdish minority.
Turkey’s economy minister meanwhile said the economy, emerging from one its worst ever recessions, was strong enough to withstand the financial fallout from the attacks.
