Turkish Intelligence provincial chief accused of failing to prevent Reyhanlı bombings

ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News

On May 11, 2013, two car bombs exploded in the town of Reyhanlı, Hatay Province, located in the far south of Turkey close to the Syrian border. DHA photo

A Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MİT) provincial chief, who was previously accused by the Turkish daily Taraf for failing to prevent a bomb attack in the southeastern province of Bitlis in 2011, was also guilty of neglect toward the Reyhanlı bombings, Taraf has claimed again.

On May 11, 2013, two car bombs exploded in the town of Reyhanlı, Hatay Province, located in the far south of Turkey close to the Syrian border. In the attack, 52 people were killed and 140 were injured. The bombing was the deadliest single act of terrorism ever to occur on Turkish soil. Many Syrian refugees passed through the town while fleeing the civil war in their own country.

The report, published on June 20, claimed that the MIT’s provincial chief H.D. had failed to stop a deadly car bomb attack in Bitlis’s Güroymak district in 2011, conducted by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) while he was serving as MİT’s Tatvan district provincial chief. The attack resulted in the deaths of 11 civilians.

Taraf said an investigation attempt against H.D. was rejected by the Turkish Prime Ministry when the file was sent.

According to Taraf, he was then promoted as the head of MİT’s Hatay office while the prosecutor’s investigation continued.