Political provocation worries delay ISIL attack case in central Anatolian city

İsmail Saymaz ANKARA

The ISIL members are being tried in connection to a deadly March 20 attack in the Central Anatolian province of Niğde. DHA Photo

A Turkish court has postponed the hearing for Islamic state of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants who attacked Turkish gendarmes in the Central Anatolian province of Niğde, as the case was asked to be moved to another province over “political propaganda” concerns.

The court has demanded the hearing, which was planned to be held on Feb. 9, be moved to another province, citing a notice from the Police Department, which read the case “will be used as a propaganda tool by legal and illegal groups in the June 7 general elections and residents would be provoked rapidly.”

This is the second delay of the hearing into the case of 11 suspects in the shooting attack that left three dead and five injured, including a Turkish gendarmerie soldier and a police officer, on March 20, 2014.

The first hearing of the case, which was scheduled for Jan. 12, was delayed to Feb. 9 over several reasons presented by the court.

All of the assailants, including German citizen B.X., Swiss citizen Ç.R. and Macedonian citizen M.Z., are suspected of being members of the al-Qaeda offshoot ISIL.