Turkey Police Arrest Five on Al Qaeda Link

Reuters via Yahoo! News ^ | Friday November 2 11:19 AM ET | Reuters

[Pericles]

Friday November 2 11:19 AM ET

Turkey Police Arrest Five on Al Qaeda Link

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish police have detained five suspected Islamic militants attempting to travel to Afghanistan to join the Islamic al Qaeda network, a police spokesman said on Friday.

Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden heads al Qaeda and Washington holds both responsible for the September 11 attacks on U.S. landmarks that killed at least 4,800 people.

``The five were arrested last week. They confessed they had attempted to go to Afghanistan obeying al Qaeda's call for Jihad (holy war) against the United States,'' a police spokesman told Reuters.

Turkey, NATO's only mainly Muslim member, said on Thursday it would send a special 90-man military unit to Afghanistan to train anti-Taliban opposition forces. It has allowed the United States to use its air bases and air space since October 7.

The five Turkish citizens were captured in the southeastern city of Gaziantep, where they had returned after failing to cross into Afghanistan through neighboring Iran, he said.

A police statement said the suspects, along with eight others, were under investigation for forming an Islamic militant group called Selefiler (Predecessors) in Gaziantep. Neither the statement nor the spokesman elaborated further.

Overwhelmingly Muslim but officially secular Turkey maintains a crackdown on all types of Islamic movements. The country's most powerful armed Islamic group is Hizbullah, which the authorities hold responsible for killing at least 150 people.

Turkey's Hizbullah is not thought to have links with a Lebanese group with the same name.

[Nogbad]

Turkey currently has 3 identities. The one they show world (Western oriented) The one they show themselves (Police state) and the one they hide from each other (Islamists).

Thank you for your unbiased informative analysis.
One learns so much on Free Republic.

[Pericles]

I just noticed that. Reuters does not use terrorist as a description, right?

[Pericles]

Listen I did not say that to slam the Turkish people, but to deny that Turkey has problems is false and a bad thing to do. If you disagree please lets discuss the issue. You can see I attached no % to each identity, and the "good" identity may in fact be the most widely held one.

[ZULU]

Aww. Let them go. Just shave bull-eyes on their heads first and take away their turbans!

[walden]

No. I read so much news that I have to work very hard to not allow their choice of language to infect mine. I'm sticking to using "terrorist" and "mass-murderer" in my language. To refer to the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks I use the term "terrorist hijackers"-- "hijackers" alone doesn't seem to me to convey the whole truth. Of course, CNN is still referring to them as "suspected hijackers." I keep wondering, when is CNN going to stop "suspecting" them and be sure?

[Pericles]

I was in NYC on 9/11 and saw everything from my office window. I felt no fear but anger. A sold wall of anger. The fact that many of these terrorists were allowed easy access into this country does not help me releave that anger. I want them dead and I want all who knew of them dead. If someone even shook Osama and his peoples hands, dead.

[walden]

I have always considered myself a fairly even-tempered, cheerful and optimistic person, and I can tell you I never could have imagined the magnitude and intensity of my rage over the attacks. I never would have thought I was capable of that. So, I know what you mean.

[a_Turk]

Listen I did not say that to slam the Turkish people, but to deny that Turkey has problems is false and a bad thing to do..

Oh, I get it. You are not a Turk hater. And you haven't been feverishly working to not only discredit our nation but to incite hatred. You are an antagonist Pericles.

[Pericles]

I guess all those Turkish Islamist parties winning Turkish election after election forcing the army to jump in and ban them is my invention. The mayor of Istanbul is an Islamist that wants to do away with secular Turkey or are you saying that's my invention too?

I will say it again. Good job by the Turkish police in stopping these Jihadists. It's about time. Turkey has been a major transportation hub for Al Qaeda and other Jihadists for a while now. I hope this new policy by Turkey lasts. I am not syaing everyone in Turkey's leaderhip was somewhat linked to Al Qaeda somehow, but damn many were (damn many Americans too i.e. Clinton's people, some neo-cons). Just like I hope 9/11 flushes out the snakes from America I also hope it does it for Turkey.

[a_Turk]

I guess all those Turkish Islamist parties winning Turkish election after election forcing the army to jump in and ban them is my invention.

Sure. They never won an election, but snuck in when one of the major parties needed a handy coalition partner to form a majority government. Now they're just ignored.

The mayor of Istanbul is an Islamist that wants to do away with secular Turkey or are you saying that's my invention too?

Anybody in Turkey who states that they want to do away with secular Turkey is promptly dealt with.

[a_Turk]

Maybe this article will calm you people down

Mosques and Modernity

[eleni121]

"Maybe this article will calm you people down"

This person and many other like myself will "calm down" concerning Turks when Turks and their government finally admit to the genocide they commited against Christian peoples living in Asia Minor 1000 years before Turks appeared on the scene. Until then, Turks will always be suspect.

[a_Turk]

when Turks and their government finally admit to .....

That's a lot to ask from me. You can read more on www.ataa.org.

[Hugin]

As Colin Powell said recently, it's a new world since September 11, and we will judge our relationship with with contries in the future based on where they stand now. Turkey has chosen wisely.

And I'll bet the Turks make the Al Qaeda scumbags talk!

[Pericles]

I am with you. They are our allies in this war because Al-Qaeda is a threat to this version of Turkey as well. I do hope they made those scum talk and I hope they can make other scum talk inside Turkey to explain why Bin Laden was in Turkey twice a few years ago.

Our prisoners do not seem to be very co-operative Indictment Made in 9/11 Hijack Case ``Martyrs of Bosnia''

[Pericles]

of course and you prove my point. If no problem existed there would be no need to "deal" with the Islamists in such a way. You seem to equate saying Turkey has a problem to Turkey is a problem. It is not the same thing, Kardassy.

[truth_seeker]

Isn't a country's embassy just like its own land? Aren't we in a coalition? Isn't Turkey part of NATO?

Ashcroft simply sends the 1,000+ detainees over to the Turkish embassy, for detention interviews, with another coalition member. No big publicity. This move could save thousands of lives.

[justabig]

I like it.