ISTANBUL, 24 November 2003 — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan questioned yesterday whether the massive Istanbul bombings were the work of the Al-Qaeda terror network, as the city’s British community joined in solemn prayers for the dead.
“We have some evidence of religious motives,” Erdogan said in an interview with BBC television after the attacks on the British Consulate and the offices of the HSBC banking group in which 28 people were killed and hundreds injured.
“Is this an Al-Qaeda conglomerate...Or is it some other terrorist organization? We are not 100 percent sure at this point,” said Erdogan, who has spoken of his country’s shame that the four suicide bombers have been identified as Turkish citizens.
In Istanbul, Victoria Short, the widow of British Consul General Roger Short, and their three children joined about 100 mourners at a service in the Anglican Christ Church for the victims of the attacks.
“We will not be defeated by evil,” British consulate chaplain Ian Sherwood said as Muslims joined Christians for the service.
At least 10 British and Turkish staff at the consulate were killed in the attack that came just days after similar suicide truck bombs hit two synagogues and killed another 25 people.
Turkey remained on high alert ahead of Eid Al-Fitr holiday after the United States issued a worldwide warning that Al-Qaeda — which claimed the attacks along with a shadowy Turkish Islamist movement — may strike again.
The government has appealed for international help in the fight against terrorism in the wake of the bombings.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer is to visit the capital Ankara today in “a gesture of solidarity with the Turkish people”, his spokesman Walter Lindner said.
Fischer will hold talks with Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul on how to fight extremism and on Turkey’s European Union membership bid. Turkey has been an EU candidate since 1999 but has yet to secure a date to open accession talks.
