Turkey blames IS recruit for Istanbul suicide blast
Source: AFP
Ankara (AFP) - A Turkish Islamic State recruit, Mehmet Ozturk, carried out the suicide bombing that killed four foreigners on a major shopping artery in Istanbul, Interior Minister Efken Ala said Sunday.
"The attacker has been formally identified. He is linked to the terrorist organisation Daesh," Ala told a press conference, using an alternative name for IS.
Ala said five people had been arrested on suspicion of links to Saturday's attack on Istiklal Caddesi, a bustling pedestrian street in the heart of the city.
Three Israelis and one Iranian were killed in the blast.
Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/probed-istanbul-suicide-blast-105752469.html
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bdwker
(435 posts)to the refugees.
potone
(1,701 posts)They don't have the resources to cope with the number of refugees that they have.
Erdogan's mistake was in turning a blind eye to Isis in his determination to crush the Kurdish rebellion and his desire to overthrow Assad.
highoverheadspace
(307 posts)His son was involved with the company that was shipping the oil. When Russia started bombing the ISIS oil route into Turkey Erdogan shot down their plane and rescue helicopter. The fact that Turkey has been bombing the Kurds who were the only ones defeating ISIS a year ago speaks for itself. Erdogan is not to be trusted. His PR has gotten so bad that he even faked rescuing a man from suicide last year. Why the EU would pay this dictator who is now cracking down on any political dissent is beyond me. The EU just gave the monster 6 billion Euro. He can now continue to extort them for money while continuing to funnel terrorists into Europe.
potone
(1,701 posts)Some Turks think that he deliberately allowed the attack in Ankara on the peace rally organized by the Kurds to take place. He is a disaster for Turkey in all ways, and has become increasingly dictatorial. Any other Turkish leader who behaved this way would have faced a military coup by now, but the has succeeded in replacing the top brass with his own people. Still, he is playing a very dangerous game. The Turks I know say that they can't predict what will happen.
highoverheadspace
(307 posts)It was very telling that it was his political opposition that was killed at that rally and then he turned around and blamed the Kurds. NATO is making a compete mockery of itself by supporting him, but it doesn't surprise me as we also support the Saudi dictatorship and they are the worst of the bunch when it comes to supporting ISIS.
potone
(1,701 posts)Their role in this mess has been despicable, as is their war against Yemen.
4dsc
(5,787 posts)I wonder the Turkish government expected when they openly sided with ISIS from the start?
Bad Dog
(2,025 posts)And not trying to blame the Kurds. That's a step forwards.
highoverheadspace
(307 posts)These attacks are most likely false flags conducted by the dictator himself to maintain power. He's been in bed with ISIS all along. Even last weeks US based ISIS member whose driver license stated he was from Langley, Virginia came into Syria from Turkey by his own admission.
Bad Dog
(2,025 posts)Sounds a bit like a conspiracy too far. Don't get me wrong I'm no fan of Erdogan's, but if what you say was true he'd be blaming the Kurds not IS.
highoverheadspace
(307 posts)There is plenty of evidence that Turkey has been the main transit route for ISIS fighters entering Syria. The government has chosen to let them through which makes them complicit. Germany alone found that over 600 German nationals had gone to fight for ISIS by way of Turkey. The Paris attacks have revealed that a great many of these ISIS jihadists are actually being recruited and coming from Europe and even the US. Many others are paid by the Saudis, Turks and Qataris who have a desire to overthrow the Syrian government.
Something not discussed much is that Syria has 2 million Christians and is the bridge between Christianity and Islam. The Sunni Wahabi regimes want to wipe out the Syrian Christians and Allawites. There is religious and ethnic cleansing going on while NATO is actually looking the other way on it. Once again, not a conspiracy. Our media has become so corrupt that they are trying to spin it another way as they serve the interests of those who are getting rich on all this chaos. That is why Russia was so effective at fighting ISIS, because when we were telling the world we were bombing them we weren't. Russia's clean up operation revealed that fact and it also highlighted Turkeys complicity.
I think underneath it all, the huge shift in the US election is being driven by people who have woken up to all the propaganda and realize we are being lied to and our taxes stolen for the war machine and endless military contracts while our government fuels these wars. Its all part of the same problem. Corruption from the top to the bottom. I recommend checking out this very informative video showing what is really going on around Syria and all the different Middle Eastern alliances to understand fully what is really going on.
Bad Dog
(2,025 posts)I'm no fan of Erdogan's, and I accept what you say about turning a blind eye to some of IS activity, but I really think you're jumping to conclusions. Historically, especially since Ataturk, Turkey has looked West, not East. In recent discussions about refugees EU membership was back on the agenda. Erdogan is conservative and religious and a bit too dictatorial and censorious for my liking but he's not some fundamentalist who thinks the Apocalypse is round the corner.
He's more concerned with the integrity of Turkey and the Kurds. He doesn't want the Kurdish regions of Turkey to break away, that's what all this is about. He sees IS as the lessor of two evils and is quite happy to have them fighting the Kurds. He's not interested in wiping out the Allawites or the Christians, he's not a Wahabbist. And I think you're being a bit harsh on countries like Saudi Arabia if you think they want to do that. I'm not saying Is and a lot of their supporters do but not the whole country. The regime is far too invested in holidays on the French Riviera for that shit.
highoverheadspace
(307 posts)They chopped off 150 peoples heads last year, they support ISIS, they are bombing innocent people in Yemen and have invaded that country. Did you miss the case of the young homosexual teen that was sentenced to death? Do you not realize they are funding the building of hundreds of mosques in Europe and are buying off US politicians? What about 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers? Do you remember when Bush had the Saudi royal family flown out of the US on John McCains private plane after 9/11? Once again, wake up please.
Bad Dog
(2,025 posts)I don't need to wake up you need to get a sense of proportion. I'm not making any apologies for them, but extermination of complete ethnic groups in Syria, mass genocide, is too far even for them.
Think about the practicalities if nothing else.
highoverheadspace
(307 posts)I wonder if Yemen's civilians population have time to think about the practicalities. Your in denial. The US media has been covering all this up because our leaders are in bed with that regime and have been for quite some time. Your sense of proportion seems to be based upon your MSM propaganda absorption. Not me. No thanks. I recommend you get your "News" from somewhere other than the complicit powers that be and their MSM cronies.
Bad Dog
(2,025 posts)Hint, I don't watch any American. What's going on in Yemen and Syria wouldn't be so drawn out if it wasn't for the Iran and Saudi Arabia. The Sunni/Shia struggle has been going on for centuries and the rivalry between Arab and Persian even longer.
What you conveniently ignore is that the conflict in Syria was started by pro democracy demonstrators. Assad let all the radical Sunni jihadist prisoners out of jail in order to discredit the opposition. And he succeeded.
I understand the complexities of what's going on in the area which is why I don't jump to such conclusions. You jump to conclusions and make assumptions. You assumed I watch US News. I don't, a quick look at my profile would confirm I'm not American.
highoverheadspace
(307 posts)The lies about Assad are all part of that agenda. I don't believe them for a minute. That so called pro democracy movement you are on about was funded by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey. They were never pro democracy. They are jihadists and always have been. The world has woken up to who really broke Syria and bought ISIS all those brand new pick up trucks, ninja outfits and machine guns
Bad Dog
(2,025 posts)You jump to conclusions all the time. You've not said anything I don't already know, yet you package it up like it's some pearl of wisdom. You're sounding like a Russian propagandist, you've not said anything about the brutality of the Assad regime or the jihadists released by Assad, and now you're libelling the democracy activists.
Your analysis is over simplistic and it fits in with Putin's narrative. You're a bit more subtle than most but you're more interested in pushing an agenda than examining what's going on.
highoverheadspace
(307 posts)Bad Dog
(2,025 posts)Unless saying that even they wouldn't wipe out whole communities in Syria counts. You're pushing an agenda, and an Islamophobic agenda at that. You've not acknowledged the horrors of the Assad regime and are trying to link Erdogan with Wahabbism.
I don't give a monkeys what Biden says. I'm not American.
riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)Their support of ISIS won't shield them from harm since in ISIS' view, Turkey's moderate Islam (and yes I recognize Erdogan is doing his damnedest to pull Turkey into conservative Islam), is anathema to ISIS' strict version and calls for death to the moderates too.