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CNN Live Saturday
Turkey's Prime Minister Says Istanbul Suicide Bombers Turkish Citizens
Aired November 22, 2003 - 12:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Moving on now to Turkey's prime minister who says the suicide bombers who attacked targets in Istanbul, this week, were Turkish citizens. But, authorities believed the bombers have ties to al-Qaeda. As the investigation goes on, funeral services are being held for some of the victims, there.
Taking you now to Istanbul and CNN's Mike Boettcher on videophone, with the latest on the investigation -- Mike.
MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well Catherine, the security services here are in Turkey are focused on two tasks. No. 1: To identify who was behind the bombings. No. 2: To prevent future bombings.
Now, to that end today, the prime minister of Turkey appeared at the funeral for a security officer who was killed in one of the blasts, here in Istanbul in the last week, and he said that all four of those suicide bombers, you said, were Turkish. The question is, who -- what group and who was behind these bombings? And that's very difficult to say although the national security council of Turkey did meet yesterday, and the key to those questions they believe is a list of 1,050 names which they said are Turks who were Jihadists who had fought and trained in Chechnya, in Bosnia, and in other countries in the Central Asian and Middle East region. And they believe this is the key.
Still, it's a very difficult and complex investigation, trying to unravel what would have led four Turks, who were not known in the past to have committed suicide bombings; it is very out of character for this nationality, this culture to conduct such an operation. What led them to conduct this suicide bombing? Is it the fact they're Jihadists and adhered to Salafis and Wahabis thoughts, the extreme version of Islam? That is what they are investigating, and it will be a long investigation to find out why exactly this did occur -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: All right Mike, thank you for that report.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Turkish Citizens>
Aired November 22, 2003 - 12:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Moving on now to Turkey's prime minister who says the suicide bombers who attacked targets in Istanbul, this week, were Turkish citizens. But, authorities believed the bombers have ties to al-Qaeda. As the investigation goes on, funeral services are being held for some of the victims, there.
Taking you now to Istanbul and CNN's Mike Boettcher on videophone, with the latest on the investigation -- Mike.
MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well Catherine, the security services here are in Turkey are focused on two tasks. No. 1: To identify who was behind the bombings. No. 2: To prevent future bombings.
Now, to that end today, the prime minister of Turkey appeared at the funeral for a security officer who was killed in one of the blasts, here in Istanbul in the last week, and he said that all four of those suicide bombers, you said, were Turkish. The question is, who -- what group and who was behind these bombings? And that's very difficult to say although the national security council of Turkey did meet yesterday, and the key to those questions they believe is a list of 1,050 names which they said are Turks who were Jihadists who had fought and trained in Chechnya, in Bosnia, and in other countries in the Central Asian and Middle East region. And they believe this is the key.
Still, it's a very difficult and complex investigation, trying to unravel what would have led four Turks, who were not known in the past to have committed suicide bombings; it is very out of character for this nationality, this culture to conduct such an operation. What led them to conduct this suicide bombing? Is it the fact they're Jihadists and adhered to Salafis and Wahabis thoughts, the extreme version of Islam? That is what they are investigating, and it will be a long investigation to find out why exactly this did occur -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: All right Mike, thank you for that report.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Turkish Citizens>
