Turkish Diplomat Stuns OSCE Meeting by Admitting that al-Qaeda was Responsible for Deadly Reyhanli Bombings that Killed 51 and Injured 140

BALTIMORE, Maryland April 6, 2014 - On May 11, 2013 two car bombs exploded in the Turkish Town of Reyhanli, near the Syrian border, killing at least 51 people and injuring another 140. According to Wikipedia, it was the deadliest single act of terrorism in the history of the geographically large nation that spans Europe and Asia on the Southern Coast of the Black Sea. The town was one of those in Turkey where refugees of the Syrian Civil War are going to in order to escape the violence and carnage in their own country. When the bombing occurred, most countries and groups immediately blamed the Damascus Government of Bashar Hafez al-Assad. Although the only people arrested for the deadly attacks - which some say killed more than 170 people - were nine Turkish nationatls, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan has said those who carried out the attacks have links with the Syrian regime. But that opinion has suddenly changed.

The Ankara, Turkey newspaper,"Today's Zaman" reported today that a Turkish Diplomat in attendance at a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on March 27, said that his country has come to understand that the terrorist group Al Qaeda was responsible for the double car bombings that did all of the killing and maiming that day in Reyhanli. The Diplomaat, Turkey's OSCE representative, Tacan İldem, said that al-Qaeda elements operating from Syria carried out the attack, abandoning the long-standing Turkish line that Damascus was responsible for the atrocity in the border town. Today's Zaman said that Ildem made these remarks in response to a call from an Armenian Diplomat for Turkey to take effective measures against radical groups using the Turkish border as a conduit to stage attacks against Christians, especially Armenians in the town of Kessab, the site of bitter fighting between regime troops and opposition forces.

Perhaps in response to the statement that day, another news outlet reports today that Al Qaeda has now come out and taken responsibility for the attacks in Reyhanli. A group known as ISIS released a statement reported on by the daily news site Aydinlik Daily. In the statement the group - very closely associated with the main international Islamic terrorist group Al Qaeda - tells Turkey to open the border gates at Reyhanli or risk an attack similar to the one that took place there last May. It specifically warns Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan to watch his back if the gate is not opened immediately.