Two more suspects detained in Ankara cemevi attacks

ANKARA

The number of detainees in the Ankara cemevi attacks has risen to three, as the police units started a hunt to find out the one giving the order for the attacks.

On July 30, Ahmet Ozan K., an unemployed man from the western province of İzmir, attacked three Alevi prayer houses, known as the “cemevi” in the capital Ankara in a series of assaults conducted over 45 minutes.

He was caught while trying to flee to the province of Eskişehir, and in his testimony he admitted that “no one told him to do so.”

However, after an interrogation, the anti-terror police units detained two more suspects, involved with the attacks, one in İzmir, the other in Eskişehir.

The police also found out that the attacks were planned, and K. had made a scouting trip to Ankara before the attacks and listed the addresses of the cemevis.

It is alleged that the suspect caught in Eskişehir previously participated in activities of a group linked to DHKP-C, a far-left Marxist–Leninist Communist party founded in 1978 and has been involved in a militant campaign against Türkiye since the 1980s.

Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu called the attacks “a planned provocation attempt,” and added: “This provocation targeting [the country’s] unity will be punished harshly.”

According to local reports, police units started a hunt to find out the “real criminals” who set and gave the order for the attacks.

“The Alevi congregation will not be deceived and give an opportunity to those targeting the brotherhood in Türkiye,” Özdemir Özdemir, the head of the Turkmen Alevi and Bektashi Foundation, said.

“This is not an attack to Alevis only. It is an attack to all Turkish citizens,” he added.