ISTANBUL, 30 July 2005 — Turkish police yesterday firmly dismissed the possibility of an Al-Qaeda attack targeting the country soon, denying as fabrication a newspaper report that quoted a senior officer as warning of a likely imminent attack by the extremist network.
“The interview contains sensational information which was never expressed, which does not reflect the truth and which is based on interpretation,” the Istanbul police department said in a statement.
The city’s deputy police chief Sammaz Demirtas had agreed to give an interview to the popular Vatan daily on the condition that the questions would be on anti-terror measures in the sprawling metropolis in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Britain, the statement said. Demirtas gave “clear and concise explanations” on security measures in place in the city, but never mentioned a possible Al-Qaeda attack, it said. “There is no information that Al-Qaeda will carry out an attack by November and such an idea was never expressed during the interview.
