Israelis warned: Terror threat in Turkey
By HERB KEINON
jpost.com - 13/03/2012
Counter terrorism bureau says terrorists intending to attack Israeli,Jewish targets in Turkey in coming days. By REUTERS
The National Security Council's counterterrorism bureau advisedIsraelis on Tuesday night to avoid traveling to Turkey because of thethreat of an impending terrorist attack there.
Terrorist elements were planning an attack against `Israeli/Jewishtargets in Turkey in the coming days,' the bureau said. Therefore,according to the advisory, Israelis should refrain from visiting thecountry.
Related: -New Iran-linked terror plot uncovered in Azerbaijan-'Thaiblast likely part of larger terror attack'The advisory comes less thana week after the Mossad - according to a report in the Istanbul-baseddaily Hurriyet - warned that Israel's diplomatic missions in thecountry could be targeted by Iran.
Citing a story aired on NTV News, Hurriyet said the Mossad sent aletter to Turkey's MIT National Intelligence Agency warning of a plotby the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force to attack Israelitargets in the country. Israel has an embassy in Ankara - though theambassador and top diplomats were expelled last year as a result ofthe Mavi Marmara raid - and a consulate in Istanbul.
Four people have already entered Turkey from Iran and are inpossession of weapons and materials to be used in the attacks, thereport added.
The travel advisory comes soon after a series of alleged Iranian plotsto attack Israeli targets were thwarted in Georgia, Azerbaijan andThailand. One attack succeeded when a bomb attached to an Israelidiplomatic car wounded Tali Yehoshua Koren in New Delhi.
The advisory also came just hours after Turkish Prime Minister RecepTayyip Erdogan, who in recent weeks has slightly toned down hisanti-Israel rhetoric, stepped it up once again, accusing Israel ofcommitting genocide.
`We are asking that Israel stop the genocide it is carrying outagainst Palestinians in Gaza,' Erdogan said. `We are asking Israeliresidents, the children of the Holocaust, to stop the attacks againstthe Palestinian people. The government is carrying out terroristactions; I ask that the people say enough to this terror.'
Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor responded by saying, `Iftargeting rocket shooters is genocide, what would Mr. Erdogan callkilling Kurdish civilians?' Erdogan's comments came as the UScontinues to look for ways to improve Israeli-Turkish ties. PrimeMinister Binyamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama discussedthe matter in Washington last week.
Yaakov Katz contributed to this report.