ozgurluk.xs4all.nl: >Turkey says leftists planned airbase attack > >August 25, 2000 Web posted at: 10:28 AM EDT (1428 GMT) > >ANKARA, Turkey (Reuters) -- Turkish police arrested seven suspected >far-left militants and said they were planning a bomb attack on a military >airbase hosting U.S. and British air patrols over Iraq, Anatolian news >agency said Friday. > >The seven were members of the Revolutionary Peoples' Liberation >Army-Front (DHKP-C) a banned urban guerrilla group and the largest of >Turkey's many extreme-leftist factions, the agency said. > >"Information obtained shows that they were aiming to launch a bomb attack >on Adana's Incirlik airbase," it said. > >The southern Turkish base is used by U.S. and British warplanes which >police a no-fly zone over northern Iraq to protect Iraqi Kurds there from >attack by Baghdad government forces. > >The agency gave no further details of the suspected airbase attack but >said the suspects were also planning bomb attacks in protest at transfers >of prisoners to Turkey's new "F-type" jails where inmates are kept in cells >instead of large dormitories. > >The DHKP-C and other armed groups hold sway in many of Turkey's large, >overcrowded prison dormitories. Officials say they are used as >recruiting and training grounds for militants. The transfers are aimed at >breaking the rebel grip on the jails. > >Istanbul police said they also arrested a leftist militant last week with >300 sticks of TNT, 30 hand grenades and a gun hidden in a car. > >"During operations against an illegal leftist group, we learned a lot of >explosives would be brought into the city to use in bombings to protest >against F-type jails," a police statement faxed to Reuters said. > >Authorities hold DHKP-C responsible for a wave of rocket attacks on police >buildings in the 1990s and the rebel group claims responsibility for the >1996 killing of leading industrialist Ozdemir Sabanci and two of his >colleagues. > >But the Hurriyet newspaper, citing police officials, said authorities >believed the DHKP-C planned attacks to draw attention to the plight of an >alleged group member under house arrest in Belgium. > >"It is said the bombs were planned to be used in attacks on famous >businessmen and state offices in order to prevent the extradition of >Fehriye Erdal," said the daily. > >Erdal, who admits membership of the DHKP-C's political wing, is charged in >Turkey with involvement in the Sabanci killings. > >Belgian authorities refused Turkey's extradition request for Erdal in May, >citing the existence of the death penalty. Despite that no one has been >officially executed in Turkey since 1984. > > >-- >Press Agency Ozgurluk >In Support of the Peoples Liberation Struggle in Turkey and Kurdistan >http://www.ozgurluk.org >DHKC: http://www.ozgurluk.org/dhkc > >Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii >Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=".signature" > >Press Agency Ozgurluk >In Support of the Peoples Liberation Struggle in Turkey and Kurdistan >http://www.ozgurluk.org >DHKC: http://www.ozgurluk.org/dhkc > > _______________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi _______________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] ________________________________________
