Turkish Prime Minister: Europe must distance itself from terror organizations

By Mourad Anouar

Morocco News Tribune

Oklahoma City, U.S.A — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has complained during a press conference in Prague “the lack of support from the EU” in Turkey’s struggle against terror and urged the European countries, mainly France and Germany, to extradite wanted terrorists to Turkey.

“We cannot seem to receive the necessary support from Europe. Even when we alert the authorities on suspects and provide evidence of their terrorist acts, we don’t receive attention. They tell us that they are following those suspects.” Erdogan said according to the English-language newspaper Zaman at the Turkish-Czech Business Forum in Prague on Monday.

“Terrorism is such a fire that while it burns where it falls, it may also eventually burn the tongs that hold it, “added Erdogan.

Turkish prime minister’s condemnation of Europe’s apathy toward the Ankara’s efforts to track the perpetrators following the explosion Friday that  ripped through the security point outside of the United States Embassy in Ankara,  killing the attacker himself, a Turkish security guard and seriously wounding a former Turkish television journalist.

Turkey believes Erdem Şanlı, the embassy attacker, had been living in Germany prior to the suicide bombing he carried out in front of the embassy building.

Turkish authorities said the outlawed leftist group’s member, Ecevit Sanli, was behind the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Ankara.the outlawed Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front, or DHKP-C, is a  leftist group opposing  U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.

It is worth mentioning that Erdogan’s visit to Czech Republic was scheduled for improving the bilateral economic relations.

“We look at the future with hope. There are positive developments. Our current trade volume of 2.5 billion USD with the Czech Republic is not sufficient. We now have a target. We want to reach a trade volume of 5 billion USD by 2015,” Erdogan said at a Turkish-Czech Business Council meeting in Prague.

“We are ready to provide Turkish citizenship to those Czech businesspeople who would want to invest in Turkey,” Erdogan also said.