A document recently brought to public attention by the FOX TV channel has revealed that in September, the National Police Department warned police stations across the country to take strict security precautions because the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) was planning to carry out a large-scale attack in Turkey.
Twin suicide bombings in the Turkish capital Ankara killed at least 102 people and injured more than 500 on Oct. 10. Since then, Turkish media outlets have speculated that misconduct or negligence on the part of the government and state officials played a contributory role in allowing the bombings to take place.
The document, which included intelligence acquired by the Tunceli Police Department, was sent to police stations across Turkey by the National Police Department on Sept. 17, warning the police to take strict security measures at public events because ISIL militants were preparing a large-scale terrorist attack in Turkey that would lead to consequences at both the national and international levels. The document states: “DEAŞ [another acronym for ISIL] has decided to stage a big attack against our country that will hit the headlines internationally. The people who ISIL has decided will carry out this attack are already undergoing training in a camp located in the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor.”
The document also provided information about the possible nature of the attack and warned that it could take the form of hijacking a plane or ship or suicide bomb attacks in a crowded location such as a rally.
Four people were arrested following the Oct. 10 attack amid widespread criticisms of security negligence on the part of the government. Among those arrested was Yakup Şahin, who was involved in the transfer of the two Ankara suicide bombers from Gaziantep to Ankara. Şahin admitted to playing a role in the crime during a police interrogation and provided details about the preparation of the attack in a 17-page statement read before the court on Oct. 14.
Driver says they transferred bombers to Ankara
Şahin revealed that two vehicles traveled from Gaziantep to Ankara one day before the attack, saying that he drove the first vehicle. He added that he was told by Halil İbrahim Durgun, who allegedly ordered the massacre in Ankara, to leave 20 minutes before the second vehicle, which was carrying the suicide bombers. The second vehicle was allegedly driven by Durgun himself.
Şahin told the court that his vehicle was stopped by traffic police at a checkpoint on the Adana-Pozantı Highway but he was allowed to continue, after which he sent a message to Durgun to warn him about the checkpoint. The prearranged message read, “My love, I am waiting for you.” Şahin said that after a while Durgun responded, “My love, I have passed [the checkpoint].”
According to a report in the Cumhuriyet daily on Thursday, Şahin said while being interrogated by the prosecutor that did not understand how Durgun was able to pass the checkpoint without problems.
After the two vehicles arrived in the Gölbaşı district of Ankara on Oct. 10, Şahin and Durgun destroyed the phones they had used to send messages to each other. Şahin was then ordered to go to the location where the rally would take place to stand guard and inform the suicide bombers in case any problems arise.
The Habertürk daily reported on Thursday that Durgun is believed to be hiding in Gaziantep because he has not yet been able to go to Syria. According to the report, the police recently raided a house in Gaziantep, where they found Durgun's fingerprints. The police said that based on the fact that there was fresh bread in the house, they believe Durgun is still in the city and have stepped up searches in the city to capture him.
‘Actual target of bombing was HDP headquarters in Ankara'
Şahin also said that the actual target of the suicide bombers was the headquarters of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in Ankara. He even revealed that the bombs were brought to Turkey from Syria by an individual identified as Deniz Büyükçelebi, adding that they changed the plan after learning that a peace rally would take place in Ankara on the same day.
Speaking to Cumhuriyet, HDP parliamentary group chairman İdris Baluken questioned how the suspected terrorists were able to travel from Gaziantep to Ankara without being discovered. “Why did the police [at the checkpoint] fail to notice the suicide bombers in the vehicle?” Baluken asked.
According to information obtained by Today's Zaman, Şahin had been physically tailed and electronically tracked by the intelligence unit of the Gaziantep Police Department since September on suspicion of having ties with ISIL. The police kept track of people with whom Şahin came in contact in Gaziantep. However, Şahin managed to lose the police tail for 24 hours just two days before the Oct. 10 attack.
On Oct. 9, the police once again received a signal from Şahin's cellphone that revealed he was in Gaziantep, a town on the Syrian border. On Oct. 10, they picked up the signal again, showing that he was in Ankara.
Turkish media outlets have claimed that the police were unable to track his cellphone signal during the 24 hours in which he drove to Ankara. In addition, some outlets have said that the intelligence unit of the Gaziantep Police Department knew the suspect would travel to Ankara but did not inform the intelligence units of the national and Ankara police departments.
The identity of the suicide bomber behind one of the Ankara blasts has also been officially announced. His name is Yunus Emre Alagöz, the brother of Abdurrahman Alagöz, who on July 20 killed 34 pro-Kurdish activists in the Suruç district of the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa. Yunus Emre Alagöz was on a list of potential suicide bombers who the police were tracking. He was accompanied by three foreigners when he arrived in Turkey from Syria, an investigation conducted by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has revealed. The police have been trying to identify the second suicide bomber in the Ankara attack, believed to be a foreign ISIL member.
Ever since the attack, commentators and opposition politicians have questioned how the attack was able to take place even though Alagöz was already on a list of potential suicide bombers and why the government failed to take the necessary measures at the rally.
Despite government officials denying that there were any security flaws, the government removed top security officials in the Ankara Police Department last week while refusing to assume any political responsibility for the massacre.
Fuente: http://www.todayszaman.com/national_document-reveals-police-were-warned-...
