Bigotry poisons the new year in Turkey: an attack against people’s lives and lifestyles
On the night of the New Year’s Eve, famous nightclub of İstanbul, Reina, was targeted in an armed attack of a man, who first shot the security officer at the entrance of the club and went inside shooting around randomly at the crowd of around 700 people. 39 people lost their lives and 65 people got wounded, with 4 of them in critical condition.
The nature of the attack, where people celebrating the coming of the new year at a nightclub were targeted, has been pointed out by both opposition parties and a great number of people among the public. The recent objections in Turkey against celebration of Christmas and New Year’s Eve, including even an official sermon carried out by Turkey’s Religion Affairs Presidency and a week-long campaign of a pro-government newspaper (Milat Gazetesi), sent a message to the public ‘deeming such celebrations in conflict with values and traditions of the people of Turkey and requesting from people to avoid them’.
A security meeting was held in İstanbul under the leadership of PM. No official statement or information was shared by the public after the meeting, where ministers and police department chief also attended.
Claims about attacker belonging to Turkistan Brigades, a brutal branch of ISIL
Announcing the attack as a terrorist act, officials of Turkey stated ‘the attacker managed to run away’ and that security forces were seeking after him. Though the group behind the attack has not been officially announced, there have been claims about the attacker belonging to Turkistan Brigades, one of most brutal branches of ISIL. Having stayed inside the club for 7 minutes – between 1:15 and 1:22 -, the attacker left his weapon, a long barreled weapon, on the site and escaped after changing his outfit. Some people inside the club jumped into the water to save themselves, as the club is located at the seafront of Bosporus.
Officials stated there was only one attacker but some witnesses claimed otherwise
There have been various claims about the incident, such as the attacker having been dressed as Santa Claus and hiding in a bathroom at the club after the attack. Following along with the initial claims, police first searched for the attacker inside the club. It was revealed only later that he actually had run away. On the other hand, PM Yıldırım stated that he was not dressed in a Santa Claus costume.
Though the latest reports indicate the attack to have been carried out by only one person, there are still speculations about whether he had received help previously. There are also witnesses who asserted there was more than one person attacking.
Empty cases on site are being examined to determine if only one weapon or more was used. Security cameras in and around the site have also been seized by the police in order to investigate further.
A commercial taxi was taken to police station as it is found suspicious. 8 of the wounded people have also been taken to counter terrorism unit of Vatan district for interrogation.
24 of the killed people were nationals of foreign countries
Of the 39 people who lost their lives, 24 were nationals of foreign countries (7 from Saudi Arabia, 2 from India, 1 from Canada, 1 from Syria, 1 from Israel, 2 from Tunisia, 4 from Iraq, 1 from Lebanon, and 1 from Belgium). 11 are Turkey’s citizens and the identities of other 4 people have not been detected yet…
Front-page article of BirGün on 2 January 2017, Monday
Source: https://www.birgun.net/haber-detay/7-dakikada-reina-katliami-141562.html