Russia’s Consulate General in Antalya confirmed the arrest of Russians.
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The people killed in the Sultanahmet area were on a three-country tour run by a Berlin travel agency that specialised in adventures for people “in the best years of their life”.
The Turkish premier said other countries fighting the Islamic State group had to adopt “a honest stance”, accusing Russian Federation both of preventing Turkey from carrying out raids on the extremists and of bombing schools and hospitals in Syria instead of fighting IS.
“Based on what we know from the investigation so far, there are no indications that the attack was explicitly targeting Germans so there can not be a link with our contribution to the fight against worldwide terrorism”, he said.
Turkey’s interior minister says one person has been detained in connection with the suicide bombing in Istanbul which killed 10 foreigners, a lot of them German tourists.
In a statement Tuesday, National Security Council spokesperson Ned Price said that the United States stands with NATO-ally Turkey, a “valued member” of the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State, and pledges “our ongoing co-operation and support in the fight against terrorism” in the face of the Istanbul attack.
Interior minister Efkan Ala said at Wednesday morning’s press conference that their chief suspect was not on any lists of known Isis members. Police had also taken fingerprints of the attacker earlier, Ala said, although he did not specify the context in which this happened. The Islamic State group, however, hasn’t claimed responsibility for the attack.
“If the terrorists aimed to disturb, destroy or jeopardise cooperation between partners, they achieved the opposite”.
“These extreme actions run contrary to the very heart of the target, a historic city wherein the monuments of three major empires – Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman blend together with a touch majesty and tranquillity”, he said.
The impact of Tuesday’s attack, while not as deadly as two others a year ago, was particularly far-reaching because it struck at Turkey’s $30 billion tourism industry, which has already suffered from a steep decline in Russian visitors since Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border in November. Ten other people were detained in Turkey’s third largest city, Izmir, and in the central city of Konya. Families of IS recruits and human rights activists in the Caucasus have described Turkey as the main gateway to Syria for Russian fighters. Information released by regional authorities shows that the victims came from across Germany and included two couples. Authorities didn’t identify the victims but said they ranged in age from 51 to 73.
Turkish media reports said German and Peruvian tourists were also among those hurt.
“With you in our hearts”, the Haber Turk newspaper read.
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Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey.
