Tag: US EMBASSY

  • Turkish Police Foil Al-Qaeda US Embassy Plot

    Turkish Police Foil Al-Qaeda US Embassy Plot

    Turkish police have uncovered and foiled an alleged plot by Al-Qaeda to bomb the United States embassy in Ankara, as well as a synagogue and other targets in Istanbul, Turkish media reported on Friday.

    img415813As a result of a February raid in Istanbul and the northeastern city of Corlu, police had arrested 12 people, including eight Turks, two Azeris and two Chechens, and seized 22 kilograms of explosives, CNNTurk reported.

    Police also found documents that allegedly revealed plans by the group, which they described as a Turkish cell of Al-Qaeda, to attack a synagogue and a museum in Istanbul.

    The embassy in Ankara was the target of a suicide bombing on February 1, which killed a Turkish security guard. That attack was claimed by a radical Marxist and anti-US armed group, The Revolutionary People’s Liberation Front (DHKP-C), blacklisted by the United States and the European Union as a terrorist organization.

    via Turkish Police Foil Al-Qaeda US Embassy Plot – Middle East – News – Israel National News.

  • U.S. Embassy in Ankara, synagogue in Istanbul alleged al-Qaida targets

    U.S. Embassy in Ankara, synagogue in Istanbul alleged al-Qaida targets

    ISTANBUL, Turkey, April 12 (UPI) — The U.S. Embassy in Ankara was targeted to be bombed by an alleged Turkish al-Qaida cell whose members were trained in Afghanistan, Turkish police said.

    Police seized nearly 50 pounds of plastic explosives with detonation systems attached, along with 10 rifles and guns, six laptop computers and other evidence, police said.

    Twelve people — two Chechens, two Azerbaijanis and eight Turks — were arrested in two raids, police said.

    The raids — which occurred in February but were only now reported — occurred in the northwestern city of Tekirdag and Istanbul, police said.

    All 12 people were believed to be members of al-Qaida terrorist cells, the Dogan News Agency said.

    The U.S. Embassy issued a travel warning at the time but said police had provided no specific threat information about the targets.

    It had no immediate comment Friday.

    The U.S. Embassy was the target of a suicide bomb attack in February that killed a Turkish security guard and severely injured a local resident. But that attack was attributed to an extreme left-wing organization, not Islamic militants.

    The arrested alleged attackers also planned to bomb an Istanbul synagogue and the private Rahmi M. Koc Museum, police said. They additionally intended to attack Turkish TV personality-actor Acun Ilicali and author Adnan Oktar, also known as Harun Yahya, an Islamic creationist who speaks against evolution, the news agency said.

    via U.S. Embassy in Ankara, synagogue in Istanbul alleged al-Qaida targets – UPI.com.

  • Making sense of the Ankara embassy bombing from Istanbul

    Making sense of the Ankara embassy bombing from Istanbul

    Emergency personnel are seen on Friday in front of a side entrance to the U.S. Embassy in the Turkish capital.

    ISTANBUL — “Have you heard the news?” my editor at the local Turkish newspaper asked. Lazily clicking through various media outlets’ homepages as I shouldered the phone to my ear, I assumed he was referring to the still-missing New Yorker in Istanbul.

    “Yeah, but the investigator hasn’t —”

    “No, not Sierra,” he interrupted. “The U.S. Embassy was bombed this morning.”

    I immediately jumped on Twitter, where I watched and retweeted as developments unfolded. First, news of a blast near the embassy in Ankara. Then, photos of the damaged front entrance. After that came 140-character blurbs reporting several injuries, a suicide bomber (or was it a package?) and one, no, two deaths.

    The distance between Ankara and Istanbul, where I live, is more than 200 miles. But I felt a world away as I drank my latte, watched two boys rough-house in the street and wrapped up another story on the investigation into Sarai Sierra’s mystifying disappearance.

    Meanwhile, my American cellphone has not stopped buzzing since 3:30 p.m. I’ve received dozens of Facebook messages and e-mails from concerned family members and friends back home. As I rushed to meet my daily deadline, I put my phone on silent.

    After filing, I cautiously opened my inbox. My heart sank — three messages from mom. I knew what they said before I read them.

    “IMPORTANT!!” shouted the first subject line. I took a deep breath before clicking it open. As I read the message interspersed with exclamation points and phrases in all caps, I could hear her frightened voice and see her furrowed brow.

    Let me add an important aside: Mom’s been trying to get me to come home since I moved here two years ago. The oldest of three daughters, I was the first in my immediate family to go to college and the first to travel abroad. She had no idea I was going to end up living in Turkey when I hugged her goodbye in January 2011. Neither did I.

    She and my sisters traveled to Istanbul this past summer and, as I did when I first stepped off the plane, fell in love with the city and its storied history, generous people and distinct cuisine. But that hasn’t stopped my mom (and many of my family members, for that matter) from sending frantic messages every time a protest occurs or bomb detonates, not just in Turkey but anywhere in the region.

    As much as I hate to admit it, she’s got a point.

    According to the Pew Research Center’s 2012 Global Attitudes Project, only 15 percent of Turks have a favorable opinion of the United States. Conversely, 72 percent view the United States unfavorably.

    In the past, I’ve been able to alleviate my chronically worried mother’s fears about my safety by pointing out that none of our governmental buildings had been targeted recently, as has happened in the Arab Spring countries. Perhaps, in retrospect, that wasn’t the greatest example I could have given.

    After all, this isn’t the first time a U.S. diplomatic mission has been attacked in Turkey.

    In 2008, six people were killed when gunmen attacked Turkish police guarding the entrance to the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul. Only five years before that, an al-Qaeda-linked gang of Turks killed 58 people in various suicide truck bombings around Istanbul.

    As my mom reminds me every day, Turkey also is in a geopolitical hot spot.

    Think of what’s happened in the past two years alone — social and political upheaval has swept the Middle East and North Africa; Syria is riddled with conflict; already tense relations between the United States and Iran have deteriorated; four people were killed in an attack on an American diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, etc.

    But do I worry about my safety in Istanbul? Honestly, other than frequent harassment, no. Perhaps it sounds naïve, but those concerns don’t match my reality here. It hasn’t affected my daily life.

    And it hasn’t, at least until now, stopped others from visiting Istanbul, consistently ranked among the world’s most popular tourist destinations.

    I pumped out a quick message, knowing my mother’s anxiety would not subside until she heard from me. “Hey mom, I’m fine. Promise I’m being safe. Just sitting in a café, writing.”

    Less than a minute later, my inbox chirped. “OK, love you.”

    via Making sense of the Ankara embassy bombing from Istanbul.

  • Interning at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Turkey

    Interning at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Turkey

    Interning at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Turkey

    By Dean Pohlman (Ankara, Turkey ’10)

    Dean Pohlman (right)
    Dean Pohlman (right)

    Instead of staying in America for a prolonged period of time, I decided to return to Turkey for an extended period of time for the third time in a little over a year. In January of 2010, I applied to the U.S. Department of State Student Internship program and listed Turkey as a site where I was interested in working. In March, I was thrilled to hear from the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, and I quickly accepted their offer to intern in the Public Affairs Department during fall 2011.

    At the time, my job description was purposefully vague so that I would be able to fit in where I was most needed. Because of this, I went into the job excited but not really knowing what to expect.

    From the first day, I knew I would be right on the front lines with the Foreign Service Officers. Within my first couple of hours on the job, I met with the president of Turkey’s most famous law school. After my first week on the job, I had already acquired a stack of business cards from NGO officials, elected representatives, professors, judges and prosecutors. My boss, Stefanie Altman-Winans, was very capable in her work, as were the rest of the Foreign Service Officers in Ankara. It was incredible to be in an office where everyone was so qualified and so dedicated to the mission. I could tell immediately that I was with an elite group of individuals.

    Most of what I did in Public Affairs was assist in planning events. I did this by conducting research on the Internet and corresponding with various groups, ministries, and colleges, as well as arranging face-to-face meetings. Here, my Turkish was instrumental in collecting information. Many Internet sources in Turkey are only available in Turkish, so in this aspect I felt I was invaluable to the Embassy as an American who was fluent in Turkish.

    I learned the importance of event planning thanks to two major events that the U.S. Embassy hosted while I was in Ankara. The first was when Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor visited Turkey to share her experiences as the first female U.S. Supreme Court Justice at a time when Turkey was attempting to revise their constitution. We visited law schools, the Supreme Court of Turkey, as well as the High Council or Judges and Prosecutors (a sort of parallel court structure of the Supreme Court) throughout the course of the day. With the help of other embassy staff, my main job was to prepare the program packet and ensure that the visits went as smoothly as possible.

    The second big event that we hosted was the 2011 Global Entrepreneurship Summit, specifically the Youth Entrepreneurship Summit. More than 80 young entrepreneurs from 15 regional areas in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa participated in a three-day conference. The conference featured speeches from leading entrepreneurs in Turkey, as well as the Special Advisor to the Secretary of State for Global Youth Issues Ronan Farrow, the President of the Turkish Youth and Sports Ministry, and Vice President Joe Biden. The event was perhaps the most hectic two days of my life – it was a non-stop job filled with three people asking me questions at once, a constantly ringing phone, and a high level of stress among the employees and the Foreign Service Officers, but in the end we pulled it off, and the participants of the summit gained friendships and entrepreneurial skills that will last a lifetime.

    The experience that I had at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara will stay with me. It opened my eyes to the work that the U.S. Department of State does and the exceptional skills that Foreign Service Officers have. It also revealed the importance of learning a language. Knowing a language not only allows you to access more information, but it allows you to connect with people on a level that would not be possible without knowing their native language.

    On a personal level, knowing Turkish also allowed me to develop relationships with Turks that will not only serve me in the future, but hopefully also leaves a positive image of Americans because it shows our neighbors in Turkey that Americans are genuinely interested in their language, culture, and history, and it facilitates better relations.

    Posted by Critical Language Scholarship Program at 4:33 PM

    via cls: Interning at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Turkey.

  • US EMBASSY: WE WOULD NOT WANT DISCUSSIONS IN CONGRESS TO IMPACT US RELATIONS WITH AZERBAIJAN

    US EMBASSY: WE WOULD NOT WANT DISCUSSIONS IN CONGRESS TO IMPACT US RELATIONS WITH AZERBAIJAN

    BAKU / 06.03.10 / TURAN:

    US

    In response to questions of Turan about the U.S. position on the House Foreign Affairs Committee vote, U.S. Embassy spokesman Terry Davidson said:”We certainly would not want this discussion within the U.S. Congress to impact our relations with Azerbaijan. We are strategic partners, and there is much we are doing together that benefits both nations.”We are aware of Azerbaijan’s concern about the debate over this resolution in the U.S. Congress, and both President Obama and Secretary Clinton have made clear their desire that the U.S. Congress not be forum for debates about what happened in 1915. As they have stated, we believe the people of Turkey and Armenia – their societies, their historians – are the ones who should review this history and put it into perspective. “To that end, the United States has supported efforts to bring about rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia, an opening that would include the creation of an ongoing dialogue about the tragic events of 1915. Secretary Clinton said last week that she hopes the full Congress will not take further action on this resolution, as we believe it to be unhelpful in the normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia. That normalization would help bring long-term stability, peace and progress to the region.” -0-

    Turan Information Agency