The foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, will urge the Turkish government to do more to stem the flow of migrants into the European Union, but will also offer a message of solidarity in the wake of the Islamic State attack in Istanbul this week that killed 10 people including nine German tourists.
Advertisement
Suleimanov also helped other Russian citizens detained in Turkey after terrorist attacks to leave Russia and reach the Middle East.
Hours later, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced the arrest of four other people as part of the investigation.
According to the report the suicide bombers would target “non-Muslims living in Turkey, foreigners, tourist regions, areas frequented by foreign visitors or embassies and consulates… and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation installations in the country”.
It was hit by two major bombings past year blamed on the group.
Turkish authorities identified the assailant in Tuesday’s attack as a Syrian man who was born in 1988, and said he was affiliated with the Islamic State group.
Dozens of tourists and Turks holding carnations have paid their respects at the blast scene on Thursday, near the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, the top sites in one of the world’s most visited cities.
The findings follow a recent darkening of relations between Moscow and Ankara after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane on the Turkish-Syrian border in November 2015, leading to the deaths of two Russian serviceman.
Germany already was helping supply and train Kurdish forces fighting ISIL in northern Iraq but has not taken a direct combat role.
Close to 200 extremists were “rendered ineffective” – the government’s term for “killed” – in artillery strikes in the past 48 hours, Davutoğlu said.
Hundreds of people gathered at the site of that attack on Thursday, to lay flowers and hold a minute of silence.
De Maiziere said he sees “no reason to refrain from traveling to Turkey” and no reason for people already there to break off their trips.
Significantly, Erdoğan quickly named a Syrian refugee as responsible for the Istanbul attack, making little effort to blame the Kurds as he has for other attacks.
“If the terrorists aimed to destroy or endanger the cooperation between partners, then they achieved the opposite”, de Maiziere said.
One of the three is suspected of being linked to ISIS, a spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry told CNN.
“Turkey will continue to punish with even greater force any threat that is directed against Turkey or its guests”, Davutoğlu said.
Also on Wednesday, Turkish police arrested three Russian nationals in the southern resort city of Antalya suspected of links with ISIS.
“They (the Russian air force) shouldn’t obstruct Turkey’s fight against Daesh…”
Advertisement
Turkish newspapers printed words of condolence in German.
