ANKARA Ñ Turkey has reported a new insurgency threat from a banner Marxist organization.
Officials said security agencies have warned of a threat to Turkish
military and civilian targets from the Revolutionary People's Liberation
Party/Front. The banned Marxist group, known as the DHKP-C, was responsible
for numerous attacks on civilian and military targets in the 1990s.
So far, Turkey and European Union states have captured about 50
insurgents from the DHKP-C. The latest arrests were reported on Saturday
when Turkish police arrested eight suspected members, Middle East Newsline reported. In all, about 50
DHKP-C members were arrested across Europe in a series of coordinated raids
last week.
The group claimed responsibility for bomb attacks in Istanbul in 2003 in
which nobody was hurt. The European Union, which Turkey aspires
to join, has placed the DHKP-C on its list of organizations deemed
terrorist.
Officials said DHKP-C has been planning a series of bombings against the
ruling Justice and Development Party, including targeting the prime minister
and justice minister. The group also targeted the military, police officers,
prosecutors and public buildings.
In late October, four suspected members of the DHKP-C were arrested and
charged with participating in the insurgency plot. Officials said the
suspects were arrested in an insurgency stronghold in Istanbul.
Three of the suspects were identified as Celal Yayla and Ramazan Yetkin
and Zeki Eken. They were said to have been explosives experts for the DHKP-C
and had been assembling bombs. Explosive material and documents were found
in an Istanbul safe house.
Officials said Yayla was trained in Greece to assemble explosives.
Ankara has accused Greece of harboring insurgents of both the DHKP-C as well
as the larger Kurdish Workers Party.
In a related development, an Islamic insurgency leader was sentenced on
March 25 to 20 years in prison upon conviction of producting bombs and
weapons. The insurgent was identified as Salih Izzet Erdis, head of the
Islamic Great Raiders Front, known by its Turkish acronym IBDA/C. Erdis has
already been sentenced to death, but helped plan insurgency attacks in
prison.
Erdis was one of 52 Islamic defendants sentenced by a state security
court in Istanbul. Erdis and Ali Osman Zor were sentenced to 20 years each
for manufacturing bombs and weapons.
