US extradites man behind deadly Reyhanlı attacks

Fevzi Kızılkoyun – ANKARA

The United States has extradited Mehmet Gezer, who gave the order for the Reyhanlı attacks that killed some 52 civilians in 2013, to Türkiye.

The U.S. police officers delivered the druglord, sought with red notice with different 17 charges, to Turkish police upon their arrival at Istanbul Airport on June 30.

Turkish police, then, moved to the capital Ankara with Gezer and started the interrogations.

The 2013 Reyhanlı car bombings took place on May 11, 2013, when two car bombs exploded in Reyhanlı, a district of 64,000 people, in the southern province of Hatay. At least 52 people were killed and 140 injured in the attack.

According to local officials, Gezer’s name came to the forefront when the planner of the attacks, Yusuf Nazik, said, “I got the order from Mehmet Gezer,” in his testimony.

Starting the search for the drug lord, the police units detected that he was in custody in the U.S.

Informing Interpol, Ankara asked the U.S. officials to hand him and upon a positive response, the U.S. police officers brought him to Istanbul.

“The order came to me from Syria,” Gezer was quoted as saying while being questioned by police late on June 30.

The Syrian government denied responsibility for the attacks. Other groups proposed as culprits include al-Nusra Front, ISIL and Syrian Resistance.