Turkish police spot DHKP/C suspects near US association: Sources

İZMİR – Doğan News Agency

Sources claim that some DHKP/C suspects were observing US targets. DHA photo

Some of the 17 people arrested as suspected members of the outlawed organization that claimed responsibility for the Feb. 1 suicide bomb attack on the U.S. Embassy in Ankara appear near the American Cultural Association branch in İzmir in earlier security camera footage, according to sources.

The members of the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) were also captured by police cameras near the representative bodies of some other countries and police stations in the Aegean province, sources said.

This camera footage was obtained during police investigations.
The DHKP/C admitted responsibility for the Jan. 1 suicide bomb assault that killed a Turkish security guard, Mustafa Akarasu, along with the attacker, Ecevit Şanlı. Journalist Didem Tuncay was severely wounded in the attack, losing sight in one eye.

The sources also said the password for some flash disks seized during the arrests was “Yunanistan,” the Turkish word for “Greece.”

The DHKP/C is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU.

Earlier in the day, President Abdullah Gül said that Turkish police and the intelligence service had information that the DHKP/C could launch an assault prior to the Feb. 1 suicide attack .

“But unfortunately it could not be prevented and the attack against the embassy took place,” Gül said during a joint press conference with visiting Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic.