Syria hands over Istanbul suspects

Published on Monday 1 December 2003 00:00

SYRIA have handed over 22 people suspected of involvement in Turkey’s quadruple suicide bombings.

The suspects allegedly fled Turkey following the attacks in November on two synagogues, the British consulate and a British bank in Istanbul, which occurred within a week of one another and killed 61 people.

A paramilitary police statement by Turkey’s semi-official news agency Anatolia said the 22 people included Hilmi Tugluoglu, said to be linked to Azat Ekinci, a key suspect in the blasts.

Ekinci has been named in reports as a key accomplice in the synagogue bombings, saying he used fake identities and cash to buy the pickup trucks containing the bombs. He is alleged to have travelled to Iran, received military and explosives training in Pakistan between 1997-99 and fought in Chechnya.

The statement did not elaborate about Tugluoglu’s alleged involvement. It said Tugluoglu’s wife was also brought to Turkey. Anatolia said several important suspects were believed to be in Syria.

The announcement came amid signs of progress in the investigation. On Saturday, a Turkish court charged another key suspect, whom police said was captured last week while trying to slip into Iran, with trying to overthrow Turkey’s "constitutional order" - a crime equivalent to treason.

That man is accused of having given the order to carry out the November 15 truck bombing of the Beth Israel synagogue.

Police have only identified the man by his initials, Y P - nearly all major Turkish newspapers said he was Yusuf Polat. The daily Radikal said Polat was born in 1974 in Turkey’s south-eastern province of Malatya.

The daily Milliyet and other newspapers reported yesterday that Polat and others had confessed to belonging to a 10-man cell that he said was an extension of the al-Qaida network. Police also had evidence that the attackers had received support domestically and from abroad, Milliyet reported.

The daily Sabah reported that several members of the cell, including several of the suicide bombers, had met while training in Afghanistan. The Cumhuriyet newspaper also said Polat had fought in Afghanistan.