Ankara: Contradictory reports over Reyhanlı attack invalid

8 April 2014, TODAY’S ZAMAN, ANKARA – The Turkish Foreign Ministry stated that the contradictory reports over the perpetrator of the bloody Reyhanlı attack, which ravaged the border town of Reyhanlı on May 11, 2013, leaving 53 people dead and scores wounded, were entirely invalid, adding that there was no doubt that the Syrian regime carried out the attack.

“There is no doubt that the Reyhanlı attack was carried out with support from the Syrian regime. Consequently, reports, expressions and attempts aimed at creating a perception as if there are contradicting statements among state authorities are completely invalid,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a written statement released on Sunday. The statement from the ministry came after the remarks of a Turkish diplomat, Tacan İldem, who said the Reyhanlı attack was carried out by Syrian elements of al-Qaeda, not by groups affiliated with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, contradicting the long-standing Turkish line that the Syrian regime was responsible for the attack.

The Foreign Ministry added that the statement subsequently made by the Permanent Representation Office made clear that Turkish authorities’ statements citing terrorist elements supported by the Syrian regime as perpetrators of this attack were still valid, the Foreign Ministry said. İldem’s remarks came at a meeting of the Permanent Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on March 27. In response to a comment by an Armenian diplomat, İldem said al-Qaeda elements operating from Syria carried out the attack. İldem spoke on the issue when the Armenian diplomat called on Turkey to take effective measures against radical groups using the Turkish border as a conduit to stage attacks against Christians, especially Armenians in the town of Kessab, the site of bitter fighting between regime troops and opposition forces.

Denying allegations that Turkey gives the go-ahead to radical groups coming through its border, İldem deemed the claims nonsensical, saying that Turkey also faces security threats from radical elements. An attack on security forces in the Central Anatolian province of Niğde, the Turkish diplomat said, had been carried out by radical elements, leaving three dead — a police officer, a gendarme and a civilian passerby.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan publicly accused Syria’s Assad of using terrorist tactics to foment unrest and disorder in neighboring countries that support the Syrian opposition and provide relief to refugees.In a September 2012 statement threatening the Turkish government with a series of “suicide attacks” and bombings in İstanbul and Ankara, the al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for the twin car bombings in the town of Reyhanlı.

This statement, however, met with skepticism and denial from Turkish officials. Then-Interior Minister Muammer Güler denied allegations that the perpetrators of the May attack in Reyhanlı were members of al-Qaeda, saying the real culprits of the deadly explosion are known and under arrest.

The attack highlighted the risk emanating from the prolonged Syrian conflict for neighboring countries, which are struggling to accommodate floods of Syrian refugees. In addition to the unfolding humanitarian tragedy and refugee issue, neighboring countries face the risk of getting dragged into the conflict against their wishes and plans, with border-crossing opposition elements and brief Syrian incursions inviting military responses, as was the case when the Turkish and Syrian armies exchanged fire several times last year. The Reyhanlı attack prompted Turkey to revisit its security strategies and policies along the 911-kilometer-long border, beefing up its military presence to establish firm control in the area. Turkey currently hosts around 900,000 Syrian refugees. Among them, 80,000 are reportedly housed in Reyhanlı. http://www.todayszaman.com/news-344030-ankara-contradictory-reports-over-reyhanli-attack-invalid.html