U.S. think tanks foresaw Gaziantep bomb

WASHINGTON

Soldiers carry Gaziantep victims in coffins during funeral services. AA Photo

Three major U.S. think tanks reportedly predicted that the southeastern province of Gaziantep could suffer a potential terrorist attack during a joint brainstorming session on possible scenarios emerging from the Syrian crisis, daily Hürriyet has reported.
 
Turkey, the United States and Saudi Arabia were each represented by a team during the simulation that lasted a day. Recent violence in Turkey was mostly foreseen by the actors as they participated in the game, and Gaziantep was stated as a possible site.
A bomb attack in Gaziantep killed nine and wounded close to 70 more on Aug. 20.
 
The Brookings Institute, America Enterprise and the War Studies Institute were the think tanks that took part in the gathering, according to Hürriyet.
 
During the simulation, Turkey resisted conducting a military intervention until Syria began bombing Turkish towns. Other players who encouraged Turkey to intervene militarily then deserted Turkey in the end, forcing Turkey to go to war against Syria on its own.
 
Saud Arabia was portrayed as the biggest winner in the case scenario, which started with the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad following the Turkish military intervention. Iraq and Lebanon fell into chaos, while the U.S. paid no attention to anything except the fall of al-Assad.
 
An 11-page report was published and distributed to members of all the organizations after the session.