Turkish Armed Forces releases statement on mosque attack

ANKARA

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Turkey’s chief of staff denied allegations that the prayer room and Quran at the NATO İncirlik Air Base in Adana were destroyed by U.S soldiers stationed at the base.

Windows in the prayer room were broken by unknown persons and there was some additional small-scale damage done, the chief of staff said in a written statement issued late Jan. 10. The mosque was opened to worship the same day, the statement read.

Allegations about the incident are unfounded, the chief of staff said in reference to recent media reports, adding that they had launched an investigation into the incident.

Local media in Adana had earlier reported that some soldiers at the İncirlik base entered the mosque on New Year’s Eve and destroyed the minbar and windows of the mosque along with the Quran.

Turkey’s nationalist party reacted to the allegations and asked authorities to further investigate the incident.

In a written statement issued late Jan. 10, Devlet Bahçeli, leader of Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), stressed that Turkey was “neither Iraq nor Afghanistan” and cited an incident last year when U.S. soldiers in Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan destroyed a Quran.

Turkish Armed Forces releases statement on mosque attack

Following claims from a local newspaper in Adana that a mosque had been attacked by American soldiers, Turkey’s Armed Forces released a statement today confirming that an attack had occurred, but that the attackers were not American soldiers.

The Armed Forces said the mosque suffered minor damages and the attackers remained unknown.

“Claims of burning the Quran or shutting the mosque down are untrue,” the statement also said.

Original reports claimed American soldiers attacked a mosque on New Year's Eve, causing damage to the building.

Investigations continue on the issue.

In the mean time, A group from Anatolia Youth Association held demonstration yesterday to protest allegations that a Quran was ripped off inside İncirlik base.