Turkey Receives No Intelligence About Possible Terrorist Attacks From US - Reports

ANKARA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd February, 2023) Turkey has not received intelligence about possible terrorist attacks in Istanbul from the United States or other countries issuing a security warning and temporarily closing their consulate generals in the city, Turkish media reported on Thursday.

On Monday, the Consulate General of the Netherlands in Istanbul switched to working online, citing possible terrorist attacks after recent cases of Quran desecration in Europe. On Wednesday, the consulates of the United Kingdom and Germany in the Turkish city followed suit and stopped receiving visitors. The Canadian office also urged its citizens to exercise a high degree of caution, but refrained from making any changes to its work.

None of the countries that warned of a possible terrorist attack contacted the Turkish security authorities, the Yeni Safak newspaper reported. Intelligence and security sources told the media outlet that no intelligence information or warning had been received from the US or other states.

Moreover, the Turkish Interior Ministry issued a statement on the matter, saying that the necessary precautions against provocations had been taken in advance, before Washington had released its first warning, the newspaper reported.

The statement indicated that in the event of intelligence sharing, the information is carefully analyzed, according to Yeni Safak.

On January 27, the US Embassy in Turkey issued a security alert, warning about possible terrorist attacks in the center of Istanbul amid the burning of copies of the Muslim holy book by far-right activists in Europe. The French diplomatic service released a similar warning, citing information from Washington. On Monday, the US Embassy issued another security alert, urging US citizens not to visit churches, synagogues, and diplomatic missions in the Turkish capital, and avoid other places popular among foreign tourists.

Earlier in January, Rasmus Paludan, the leader of the far-right Danish political party Stram Kurs, burned copies of the Quran in Sweden and Denmark in a protest against the Turkish leadership. A similar protest was carried out by far-right Dutch politician and leader of Islamophobic group Pegida Edwin Wagensveld in the Netherlands, when he tore out pages from a copy of the Muslim holy book and burned them in front of the parliamentary building in The Hague.