Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke on Saturday of his shame that the bombers who blew themselves up in a week of carnage in Istanbul were fellow Turks as police rounded up more suspects.
But Erdogan vowed that the predominantly Muslim nation would not be cowed by the two sets of massive attacks that rocked Turkey’s biggest city, and thousands of people staged defiant marches for peace in several cities.
Turkey was on high alert ahead of a major Muslim holiday after the United States issued a worldwide warning that the al-Qaeda network may strike again after claiming responsibility for the wave of Istanbul attacks that killed at least 53 people.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer is to visit the capital Ankara on Monday in ”a gesture of solidarity with the Turkish people” after the strikes, his spokesperson Walter Lindner said.
Fischer will hold talks with Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul on how to fight extremism and on Turkey’s European Union membership bid.
Turkey has been an EU candidate since 1999 but has yet to win a date to start accession talks, with the EU demanding more progress on key reforms notably involving human rights and treatment of its ethnic Kurdish minority.
Erdogan said he was ashamed that four suicide bombers in the attacks on British and Jewish targets — the worst bombings in modern Turkey’s 80-year history — were Turkish nationals with international links.
”Four of those [dead] were terrorist citizens,” said Erdogan, whose Islamist-rooted party took power a year ago. But he added: ”Bombs will not stop us living freely.”
The death toll from Thursday’s strikes on the British consulate and the Turkish headquarters of London-based banking giant HSBC rose to 28 after a woman died of severe head injuries, health officials said.
The bombings, described as Turkey’s own September 11, came just five days after a twin bomb attack on two synagogues on Saturday that killed 25.
Hurriyet newspaper reported that Turkish police have arrested 18 suspects in raids and identified the dealership where the vehicles were bought for Thursday’s bomb blasts.
Meanwhile, Turkish police have arrested a suspected member of a far-left extremist group who was plotting attacks against the US and German embassies in Ankara, a report by NTV television said.
The media came under fire from Istanbul’s police chief, who claimed the second attack could have been avoided if not for ”irresponsible” reporting about the suspects and the police investigation following the synagogue blasts.
Thursday’s bombings were seen as a deliberate strike against Turkey — a key US ally and fellow member of Nato — to coincide with US President George Bush’s controversial state visit to Britain, its main ally in the Iraq war.
Both attacks have been claimed by al-Qaeda and the Islamic Great Eastern Raiders Front, a shadowy radical Sunni Muslim group.
The US government on Friday issued a ”worldwide caution” that al-Qaeda may stage new attacks on US interests abroad and plane hijackings.
Both the US and Britain have warned in particular of more attacks on Turkey, a Muslim nation with a strictly secular political system and a pro-Western stance that includes ties with the US and Israel.
Security has been stepped up around key sites, including the prime minister’s office, and authorities have been carrying out spot checks on vehicles while some embassies, shopping malls and schools were closed or have boosted protection.
Turkey’s Jewish citizens were also in a sombre mood, with synagogues closed because of security fears, forcing them to go underground for Sabbath prayers.
But Britain dismissed a report that it was planning to close its embassies around the world following the Istanbul attacks, which cost the life of its top diplomat in the city.
Thousands of people took to the streets in major Turkish cities to condemn those responsible for the attacks but also taking aim at the US over Iraq.
The march took place not far from the devastated British consulate where the Union Jack was flying at half-mast as British investigators were searching through the ruins for clues.
Istanbul police chief Celalettin Cerrah blamed the media’s ”irresponsible reporting” for the British attacks, saying police had been just an hour away from catching the bombers.
The names and pictures of the four were published in Turkish newspapers the day after the synagogue bombings, and details about the suspects and the investigation have continued to trickle out despite a media blackout ordered by the state security court. — Sapa-AFP
Istanbul bombs: Warnings ‘ignored’