© AFP 2016/ YASIN AKGUL
At least 39 people were killed and over 70 wounded on Sunday morning when gunmen dressed as Santas opened fire on New Year’s revelers at a nightclub in Istanbul, according to Turkish officials and news reports
The assault began about 1 a.m., when a gunman shot and killed a police officer who was guarding the door, according to Istanbul Mayor Vasip Sahin, who spoke to reporters in front of the club about two hours after the shooting. After killing the policeman, the gunman “brutally and violently attacked innocent people who came here to enjoy themselves,” Sahin said, calling it a “terrorist attack.”
Sahin mentioned only one assailant, but other witnesses, speaking to local media, said they had seen two or more. It was not immediately clear where the attacker or attackers were.
RT:
The key suspect escaped the scene by changing clothes at the club after the attack, according to reports on Turkish media. There have also been rumors that there was a second attacker, but officials are now just talking about one terrorist.
Turkey’s President Recep Erdogan condemned the attack and said that the perpetrators of the attack “tried to bring chaos” to Turkey.
“I strongly condemn the terrorist act that took place in Istanbul in the first hours of 2017. The perpetrators of this inhuman act that targeted civilians are trying to bring chaos to our country and break the spirit of our people. We are determined to uproot terrorism and threats to our country. These attacks are linked to the events in our region,” Erdogan said, refering the Turkey’s Operation Euphrates Shield in Syria, which is aimed against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) and YPG forces (linked with PKK terrorist group according to Ankara).
Video from the scene of attack:
Teyitsiz bilgiler 30’dan fazla ölü olduğu yönünde. Saldırganlar defalarca şarjör değiştirdiler. pic.twitter.com/CzG0PKp6Vg
— Murat Şahin (@SunucuSpiker) January 1, 2017
if this is an Isis action they are stupid…Erdogan is their friend or at least neutral…..go after mass murderer Assad!
Erdogan is an ally of Al Nusra, who are enemies of ISIS.
Who writes your paycheck, soros or the CIA?
I think that’s Sorosz, probably with the little umlaut-like deals over the O’s.
You again, LOL. Who hired you to keep accusing people of working for soros or the CIA? Was it the Qatari secret police? The Mossad? I’m too smart to fall for your tricks!!!11
Oh I happily do it for FREE.
Turkey is no longer neutral, and therefore ISIS has no reason to extend a truce with them. Also, Assad cannot be pushed out of Syria by a few losses since it’s his home turf. The Turks could potentially be persuaded to back off, however. Therefore attacking Turkey could give ISIS the most “bang for the buck”.
Also, there no doubt that Assad is (by our western standards) a mass murderer, so I understand your point. So was Saddam Hussein. That doesn’t change the fact that Saddam’s removal was a complete catastrophe for the Middle East and even the entire world.
Assad’s Alawites are much like the Kurds: secular Muslims who have respect for minorities. Are you sure you want Assad replaced by Al-Nusra and ISIS?
Hey idiot: What about the “mass murdering” done by the U.S. in all its UNPROVOKED AGGRESSIVE wars – from Vietnam to Iraq to Korea to the Balkans? What about that? What about the 1,000,000 Iraqis killed as a result of Bush’s Iraq Attaq based on lies? What about the 500,000+ Iraqi children dead before that in the 1990s from the cakling bitch Albright’s sanctions? ANSWER, dickhead!
The U.S. is also responsible for the deaths in the Syrian war too, since they plotted to overthrow the Syrian government years prior, fomented the uprising, and gave all kinds of support to both native and foreign jihadis rampaging and killing across the country. The U.S. leaders responsible for all these policies should be judged in criminal tribunals and hanged.
So go FUCK YOURSELF, you little CIA tool.
Did you mean to reply to Aurelius or me? In either case, your uncontrolled rage and bizarre CIA accusations expose you as an intellectual midget, unworthy of further conversation.
Perhaps you would be more comfortable posting comments on a Pakistani news website, where you can scream CIA/Mossad to everyone you disagree with, like a paranoid schizophrenic with Tourette syndrome. Much better than polluting SouthFront.
He may be upset by your reference of Assad as mass murderer. He is a dictator, but has held country against attacks from outside support. So who is the murderer? Your point about Hussein is great. I guess the Saudi idea is to divide and lose! The CIA strategy is to destabalize all? Turkey and Russia may have some say in this. Godspeed SAA
Yes, he most likely is… Ironically I was defending Assad, but whatever.
The incredible thing is that Obama repeatedly attacked Bush for what he unleashed in Iraq by eliminating the dictator Saddam. Now he’s doing the exact same thing to eliminate a guy who is objectively less evil.
At least Bush had the excuse that he didn’t know better. In this scenario we know exactly what will happen if Assad falls, and it’s not pretty. In fact, it’s already partially happened (Al Nusra + ISIS).
“….the dictator Saddam…blah blah blah…evil…blah blah…”
If you’re so worried about “dictators” and “dictatorship”, what about those lovely “bosom allies” of the U.S., the Saudis, Qataris, Kuwaitis, UAE-is, Bahrainis, Erdogan, etc. etc.? So why aren’t you worked up about those dictatorships, you self-serving hypocrite knucklehead?
Yep.
Bush and Obama did what the US Neo-Cons think tanks told them to – attack the secular mid east dictatorships outside US sphere of influence: so far up to Iraq/Libya/Syria. Iraq was just the start, the ‘long war’ is a plan to Balkanise these middle east states, into bunch of more easily controllable, sectarian driven, micro states, effectively removing the big national arab conscript armies. If Syria had fallen in 2015 before Russia intervened, then Lebanon was the next target on list for same treatment.
Then, ultimately the mercenary militant armies were to be transited north east into central Asia/ Caucasus region, where they could either be used to foment sectarian violence and war at edges of either Iran or Russian Federation. That is the US Neo-Con think tank platform.
Assad is always called dictator, as if that is some sort of oddity in the Arab middle east. The main recruiters and sponsors of anti Assad militants and jihad’s are the sectarian Gulf States, which are structurally, hereditary monarchical dictatorships, and whose human rights records are utterly abysmal, and overrule violently repressed sectarian minorities. Yet these Gulf States claim they are somehow the benefactors of Syrian people, based on sectarian claims? That is surreal proposition.
Unable to answer anything I said, resorting to moronic and totally off-base personal attacks – just like I expected, and just like the braindead, arrogant little douchebag that you are…
I mentioned the CIA in my post; but I didn’t say anything about MOSSAD. So why drag that in here, unless…you’re feeling a little bit guilty about something? Anyway if you’re NOT a CIA/MOSSAD/whatever troll, then WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING with those comments on this website, idiot? This isn’t one of the Anglo-ZioNazi MSM websites suited to you and your knuckleheaded ilk. So WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE??? No life? Couldn’t get any chicks on New Year’s Eve, so you retreat to your basement to spill your mental shit onto the Internet ranting and raving against Assad, Putin, Hussein etc.? Or feeling frustrated ’cause your jihadi boyfriends haven’t given you enough head lately? Just what is it, Schlomo?
By the way, your imbecilic remark about my supposed possible affinity to Pakistani websites (!) illustrates perfectly what a pinhead you are. Islamist Pakistan always has been the proxy of you degenerate Anglo-Zio imperialist jackasses. In the 1980s, Johnny Schlomo whackjobs like you were heaping praise on your “heroic ally” Pakistan and screaming about “da evil Soviets and communists killing the poor innocent noble goatfucker mujahideen in Afghanistan” – just like you scream about “Assad” now. Then a few years later, your “noble goatfuckers” pushed 9/11 up your ass.
So SCRAM back to the “Jerusalem Post” now, Schlomo-twerp.
I think he’s paid by that CIA group, the one led by that fake general, what was his name? hanes, hayes, something like that…remember their trademark was russophobia, foul language, devout warmongering and explicit hatred.
Absolutely!
The western standard is high. They kill by millions.
Hey Bandalar,
Your accusations of Assad being a mass murderer are downright false. It i not based on facts. Why would Assad kill his own people? He cannot!!
Are you bait-trolling or just off the meds again?
Erdogan is a friend of FSA which friend of ISIS and Al Nusra.Both this terrorist group’s are created by NATO and are fund by Turkey and Saudi Arabia.This terrorist group’s are fighting for President Assads chair which their were promised by NATO.Their love USA dollars more then their own Arab brothers.Used and abused by white NATO countries to destroy fellow Muslim and Arab brothers.
Turkey was openly supporting Al Nusra against Assad and sometimes even ISIS against the Kurds. However, it looks like he is having a change of heart. He has finally realized that when you support one group of Sunni Salafists, it’s not like they carry an ID card that guarantees that they will not end up being part of ISIS. Putin must have known that this was going to happen so this is why he was so patient.
Bottom line: It looks like Erdogan’s support for Al Nusra and the Islamist groups is drying up.
USA and NATO White countries use Qatar,Turkey and Saudi Arabia by giving weapons and security guarantees to killed their own Arab and Muslim brothers because of oil and gas that their have.Very shame how can you kill your own brother because earthly raw materials instead of sharing.NATO and USA a are laughing after instigating them to kill each other.
In reaction to the recent agreement with RU over Syria?
As usual. Erdogan vows to crack down on ‘terrorism’ implying a crackdown on the Kurds and not Isis/Daesh. Turkish Intelligence probably knows about all Isis attacks , however it’s most likely riddled with pro Sunni Isis sympathisers and hobbled from doing anything.
Exactly.
Turkey picks up what it has planted !
A very, very old saying goes “You reap what you sow”. Would be good for all (except the Jihadist) to close down the border with Idlib province. Supplies are probably being reduced to rebels for now.